


You Fell From the Stars

by inkheart9459



Category: Supergirl (TV 2015)
Genre: F/F, Tumblr Prompt, it's pretty much a ficlet collection but now in chronological order, mostly - Freeform, pod baby fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-19
Updated: 2017-03-04
Packaged: 2018-09-25 13:37:30
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 43
Words: 50,455
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9822950
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/inkheart9459/pseuds/inkheart9459
Summary: Instead of Mon-El in the pod, Alex finds a baby with the crest of the House of Ze on it and knows instinctually that the baby is Astra's. She adopts the little girl, and when Astra crashes down in her own pod, alive, months later she co-parents her with Astra. That leads to a rather interesting life for the both of them...





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hello there, so this monster sort of spawned from an anon showing up on tumblr and asking What if there was a baby in the pod, and then a bunch of subsequent anon prompts that led to the forming of this AU. It's over 30 little shorts now, which for this first posting have all been arranged in chronological order, when I add more onto this, obviously that'll go out the window, but for now at least it's all nicely put together. I'll start with the first prompt that brought about this whole world and go from there, I hope y'all enjoy. Oh and if anyone has another prompt hit me up at writebethany on tumblr and send it in.

The baby lands in the pod wearing the In-Ze crest. Of course Alex does genetic testing to back up their suspicions that it’s Astra’s child. Even before the genetic tests Alex sees the crest and is like “I’m taking her home.” Kara, of course doesn’t like that because it’s her cousin after all, and finally she can actually raise one baby cousin after failing the other. But Alex argues with her. Kara is Supergirl, has a demanding job on top of that and lives in a loft. Alex has the medical knowledge and has actually handled a fair amount of kids from babysitting gigs and summer camp jobs. It only makes sense for her to take the baby. That doesn’t mean that Kara can’t totally live on her couch though and help out because this is a Kryptonian baby. On Earth. Superpowered shenanigans are bound to happen at some point and it’s better that Kara is there to help out.

 

It’s almost a year before Astra’s own pod comes crashing down. Alex is there when they open the pod and she sobs when she sees Astra whole again. The sun had done its magic when Astra had cleared the earth’s orbit. She just had to circle back around again to land once more and it had taken so long. Alex calls Kara who meets them at the DEO while they clear Astra to make sure she’s really ok. They sort of avoid the topic of the baby for a long while because they don’t know how in the world Astra had a kid and she literally just resurrected. There’s a time and place for questions. But of course they have to tell her before Alex takes her home and so they do in a quiet backroom of the DEO. Astra tears up when they tell her, but the tears don’t fall. She’d sent the little girl off in a pod not long after they landed on Earth. The sun had allowed her to have children, but Non…she feared what Non would do to the girl and so she programmed the pod to circle the Earth a few times before crashing down. Only something must have knocked it off course if she only landed just a few months before. Astra doesn’t quite know what to do now that she actually has a chance to raise her little girl, but she stands and tells Alex to take her to her daughter anyway.

 

The co-parenting happens by small margins. First Astra sleeps on the couch, taking Kara’s place. Kara’s role truly falls back into that of a loving cousin now that Astra is there and she spoils the kid like mad. Astra and Alex fall into a routine. Astra spends most of the day at home, except when the DEO truly needs her, Alex works as normal. She comes home to her two favorite girls with a smile and a god awful amount of groceries most nights. Feeding two Kryptonians is an undertaking. She smiles and laughs with the baby and smiles up at Astra. Somewhere along the line Astra stops sleeping on the couch. They hardly even notice. It’s just practical after all. Then bed sharing and child rearing turns to kisses on the cheek and hugs and that turns into just plain kisses which evolves into a full on relationship. It’s comfortable, not easy, but comfortable because of just how slowly it evolved, how naturally. And before the baby even starts pre-school they’re as family as family can be. The little girl grows up with two loving mothers, a cousin who sneaks her too much ice cream, a grandmother who knows how to make the best chocolate pecan pie in the galaxy, and plenty of honorary aunts and uncles who always have a smile at the ready just for her.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: How much time did Astra get to spend with newborn!Vega before jettisoning her off into space?

Astra doesn’t realize she’s pregnant for over three months. She goes so long before realizing half because she didn’t really register most of the beginning symptoms and because she has absolute faith that she can’t get pregnant. The High Council had made sure of that when she was little more than a girl. She still remembers the pain of that procedure and she knows it did not have to hurt. Krypton was too advanced not to have pain-blocking drugs. Even as young as she was, Astra got the message they were sending loud and clear. She was different and always would be and different on Krypton was to be cut off at the root. There is bitterness that still lingers deep down at the fact that Alura was treated as the golden child just because she was born first, but most days she can put it out of her mind. There are days, though, especially right after seeing Kara that she just wishes…

 

Kryptonian pregnancy is slightly different, a little longer, some different symptoms, and different physical changes. They had learned about what a Kryptonian pregnancy would be like when they were little, if only for their own edification. The Codex would take care of all of that, they were assured. But even assured as they were Astra remembers the signs and when she does realize she’s pregnant, she can’t believe she missed them.

 

At first, it was just a feeling of something being off. In the days before the Codex, their teacher had told them that women used to joke that it was Rao telling them something, but they weren’t quite able to hear. That had been easy enough to ignore a bad feeling as a general was almost an everyday thing. Next, there was her missed period, but that had always been irregular considering the stress she was under as a soldier. Then there was the increased appetite, but on a planet where she had a huge appetite to begin with because of her super powers, what was a little more? Then there were the dreams, all with her taking care of children that would swell her heart to bursting, the body psychologically preparing the mind before the woman even knew, the teachers had said. Astra had just thought it was another knife her mind had twisted into her back, nothing new about that either. But the one thing that had caught her attention, the one thing that her elders had told her had alerted even the most oblivious women to the fact that they were pregnant, was the day she reached back to rub at the small of her back and she felt a grouping of bones pressed against her skin that had not been there before. They slowly shifted in the body to accommodate the growing baby. Astra had frozen and felt them again just to be sure and then she had excused herself from the planning meeting she had been in with a flimsy excuse, but she didn’t care.

 

When she gets back to her room she panics for a long, long time. She cannot be pregnant. It isn’t possible. She cannot bring a child into this world, this primitive and slowly dying world. She will not make a child witness what she had to growing up. And then she thinks of her husband and panics harder. Non is not someone who ever needs to be a father. He is ruthless and heartless now. He was not always, but that is the man he is now after Fort Rozz. He would only treat a child as the continuation of his ruling legacy, and that is no way for a child to grow up. She’s not even sure that she should be trusted with a child after her stay in Fort Rozz. Astra looks at herself in the small mirror she has hanging in her tiny quarters and she sees the look of determination come onto her face. And then she starts to plan.

 

Astra assigns herself a delicate recon mission that only she can handle given her military assignment history. She had been an intelligence agent once upon a time, and that’s the only reason her head council agrees easily to let her go without much fuss. She will keep in contact via video uplink every day and she will make sure that her power base is not shifted for her return, and she will return with a vengeance when this is all over.

 

She leaves Fort Rozz, accomplishes her mission to plot all important military and politcal strongholds of the humans in a few months, and then settles down to wait out the rest of her pregnancy, feeding those left at Fort Rozz the information she has slowly. She watches herself grow bigger and bigger in an apartment that is not her home and she worries. She will have to do this all alone, give birth to a baby on a foreign planet with no doctors to take care of the child while she lies exhausted on the bed. But she is a soldier and so she will manage. She still fears that something will go wrong, though, worrying until the wee hours of the night.

 

When her baby comes, Astra rides out the labor silently, listening to her body for cues on when she is supposed to push and hoping that she is managing to do one thing in her life right. The baby finally slips from her onto the bed and Astra uses what’s left of her strength to pick the baby up and draw them into her arms. She looks down to see that her baby is a girl and she cries and cries. A little girl just like Kara. She cries more in relief as well as agony. Her little one cannot be brought back, but she has a daughter now, not a replacement or consolation, but something precious nonetheless. The little girl cries too and she has a good set of lungs on her, for which Astra is glad.

 

When she wakes the next morning, the sun pouring down on her and the baby, Astra feels that she is completely healed and she blesses the yellow sun for its powers. She hasn’t been on this planet long, a year and a few months, but it has brought her much, including, she has no doubt, the baby in her arms. She cleans them both up and dresses the baby in an outfit that she had made in her spare time just waiting and waiting for her baby to be born, takes one look around her apartment, and then opens the window and flies off.

 

The pod she stole away months ago is waiting exactly where she left it when she lands in the woods miles and miles and miles from Fort Rozz. She places her little girl into it and kisses her gently. She programs the trajectory into the navigation system, to circle the earth a few times before landing somewhere even farther away from Fort Rozz than she is now and shuts the door.

 

“I hope you can forgive, darling one. But you must grow up elsewhere and I will keep fighting to make sure that there is a planet for you to grow up on.”

 

The pod levitates as she finishes speaking and then it flies off, quick as a blink. Astra watches the place where it disappeared into the sky for a long, long time before she flies off herself, telling herself that it was all for the best, even if she doesn’t quite believe it.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: How does Alex adjust to raising baby!Vega before Astra comes back? does baby!Vega have her crib in Alex's room for closer access, does Alex let the baby sleep with her? Does Alex have one of those little baby slings to carry Vega around?

Vega is a few days old at most when she comes out of the pod. Alex has babysat before, of course, but never for a baby this young. To say those first few days were rough would have been an understatement. Kara is a godsend considering she needs a lot less sleep than Alex herself does. Kara takes the shift from eleven to six while Alex sleeps, at which point Alex gets up and lets Kara catch a couple hours before she has to speed through her routine to get her to CatCo on time.

 

In the tired and stressed haze it takes a while for Alex to really digest the information that for all intents and purposes she just adopted a baby. Legally that’s what the papers will say in a few weeks time when the DEOs semi-legal documents come through for the baby. Kara still has to give the baby a name for that to happen. And Alex has to decide if she puts Astra down as dead on the forms or leave her as a parent as well. She saw Astra die, felt the moment where it had been certain, but something just won’t let her call it just yet. And while she may know how to take care of a baby for short periods of time and have the medical knowledge to back it up, that’s so much different than being a full time guardian to a baby. And suddenly she’s terrified. Because she’s a fucking mess how is she going to raise a child?

 

But then Kara is by her side, babbling at the baby in Kryptonese and she takes a breath. She will be able to do this because she has the support of her sister and the support of her friends and Hank. And with help anything is possible. She can do this. Whatever feeling that drew her to this baby was not wrong. She will raise this little girl as best as she knows how.

 

And the best she knows how starts with a literal metric ton of research into everything that a baby needs for development and various furniture required. The first few days they got by with a loaned crib from one of the staff of the DEO, but if this is going to be the baby’s home there has to be more than that. Alex gets everything and maybe the kitchen sink too. She’s the equivalent to a first-time mother even if she doesn’t feel it yet, and they always seem to be way over prepared. Kara doesn’t help with the sheer amount of stuff bought because she keeps adding cute things to the cart and darting away before Alex can say to put them back. She’ll never tell Kara that she loves the little hooded towels with monkeys on them.

 

One of the purchases is a rollable bassinet. Alex rolls it around so the baby always has a place to sleep but she can still see the baby. On nights where Kara is needed for super duty she keeps it right next to her bed and listens for the slightest fuss from the baby. She would sleep with the girl in her bed, but she’s read enough to know that co-sleeping is far too dangerous to even think about it as more than a passing thought. Sometimes instead of trying to sleep she just stares at the tiny face and wonders if she’s doing the right thing. She really hopes she is.

 

Alex doesn’t really settle into everything until about two months in. Kara finally gave the baby a name a week in and that made it a bit more normal, but it’s only the day in and day out that reality that really grounds Alex. She starts to relish coming back from missions having Vega and her ever-rotating assigned DEO babysitter greet her at the door. She misses the baby softness and smell when Vega isn’t in her arms. Alex even starts to not hate the ridiculous little baby carrier that Kara got her almost as a joke because hey, at least her hands were free. And having Vega giggling at her funny faces while she walked around didn’t hurt either. But that’s another thing that Kara isn’t ever going to find out either.

 

All in all by the end of the second month into the beginning of the third she feels like…not a parent per se, not yet, but something like it. The chaos of working and raising a child wears on her as it does all new mothers, especially since she didn’t exactly get maternity leave to deal with the first few weeks, but then again, some mothers don’t either and Alex can deal. She can provide for the baby and take care of her and love her. Vega is hers. That much she cannot vacillate on even if she is unsure of exactly their relationship as of yet, and she is more than ok with that because Vega is the most beautiful little girl with the happiest toothless smile there is and she is immensely glad that she insisted that she take care of Vega that day when the pod landed and she wouldn’t change a thing.

 


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: How long does it take for Alex to feel like little Vega's mom?

It takes almost eight months for Alex to really and truly feel like Vega’s mom. Vega starts babbling earlier than most babies, but between the Kryptonese and English mixture that’s fed to Vega, it’s a little harder to tell what her first real word is really. Kara swears Vega’s first word came right before Vega was seven months old and that the word was salite, which is the closest Kryptonian really gets to the word cousin, but Alex is a little dubious about that. She hasn’t heard the characteristic tones of Kryptonese come out of Vega’s mouth yet, though that doesn’t mean she hasn’t heard the baby trying. She doesn’t ever disillusion Kara to what she wants her to believe. Vega’s first word in English will be just as special as her her first in Kryptonese because she’s of both worlds equally so there’s no need to have a contest about which language was first. She does not need to take one more thing away from Kara with doubt.

 

Alex is damn sure what Vega’s first word is in English, though. She’s sitting at the dinner table, finishing up feeding Vega her last serving of pureed peaches for the day. After she wipes Vega’s face of the last of the goo and goes to clean up everything Vega starts to babble again.

 

“Yeah, baby girl, that all sounds very interesting. I know, peaches are totally the best food in the galaxy, just don’t tell Kara because she’s convinced that title goes to chocolate pecan pie.” Alex smiles up at Vega and Vega smiles back, giggling.

 

“Mama!” Vega reaches towards Alex and giggles again. And then of course she very clearly says “Salite!” with just as much joy and Alex wants to eat her DEO polo she’s so fucking floored.Because not fucking once has she called herself Mom or anything like it to Vega’s face, but she had to have picked it up somewhere, some educational TV show that they entertain her with at the DEO while she’s out on missions or something and then she put the pieces together in her little brilliant baby brain just to drop that little bomb on Alex right when she wasn’t suspecting.

 

“Mama?” Alex asks.

 

Vega reaches for her again. “Mama!”

 

Alex blinks and blinks and blinks again. Mama. Vega thinks of her as her mother. She doesn’t know any better, not really, but…she was the one who put the pieces together. That has to mean something. Her opinion is not weightless just because she is a small child. Vega is Kryptonian and probably smarter than Alex understands even now. And if she has chosen to call Alex mama, then maybe she should pay attention. Because she’s been dancing around the feeling for a while. She feels as if she shouldn’t feel like a mother and should in equal measure because she’s a damn train wreck emotionally about eighty percent of the time. But.

 

She just stares at Vega as the pieces start to click inside her. Vega is her daughter. Her daughter. There is no other word for it. That is what she is. Alex  can’t run from that anymore.  And she is Vega’s mother. There’s no running from that either because she knows she would rather die before running from this child in front of her.

 

“Yeah, Vega baby, Mama.” She stands to kiss Vega on the head gently. “Mama loves you. I always will.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: How would baby Vega react to Astra at first? Would it be like she already recognized her, or another stranger in her life and she wants Alex?

Vega is ten, almost eleven months old when Astra lands. Astra, at first is hesitant to hold her. She’s afraid it’s a dream, that she’s still in the pod, or worse that she’s still trapped in the Phantom Zone and all this has been a dream that will shatter the moment she has Vega in her arms. But Alex encourages her gently and Kara is practically hopping up and down waiting for mother and daughter to reunite, it’s the Disney-like ending that Kara almost craves after all. When Astra takes Vega from Alex she sighs heavily, world-weary with just that note of happiness mixed in that says it was all worth it for this.

 

Vega looks up at Astra and smiles. She’s always been a happy baby, a little prone to dramatics, and sometimes so quiet Alex wonders why, but when she looks down Vega always is happy. She coos at Astra now and reaches up to grab onto the silver streak in her hair and tugs. Astra just laughs with tears in her eyes as her breath catches in her throat. This is her child. Her child. In her wildest dreams she could have never imagined that this would happen and yet there is living breathing proof in her arms and she feels shattered but so, so alive.

 

“What is her name?” Astra asks.

 

“Vega Astra-Ze Danvers,” Alex says quietly.

 

Kara had picked out the name. Alex had insisted that her name be something Kryptonian despite the fact that a great deal of Kryptonian names sounded almost like gibberish to English speakers. Being Kryptonian was part of the little one’s heritage and her name should reflect that. Kara had thought on it for a long while, there were a few days where Vega was just called the baby or little girl while she thought. When she had come back to Alex holding Vega and had placed the girl in Alex’s arms, Kryptonese glyphs glowing softly on chubby arms, Alex had dusted off her reading skills and translated slowly. Vega. Kara smiled sadly and told Alex of an old Kryptonian goddess, that of wisdom and strength named Astra. The gods of the old pantheon hadn’t liked her much because she had a way of going against them, all for good reason of cours, they were being foolish,, but in a great many of the stories she was painted as a villain. That did not stop her from having a daughter though, one she loved beyond all measure, who she named Vega. Vega later became the goddess of the arts and charm and had a way of smoothing the arguments between her mother and the other gods. So much so that in those stories where Astra was the villain, Vega was her redemption. Kara had said it was an old myth, that not many knew it, but that her mother had told her of it as a bedtime story many times.

 

Alex looks at Astra as she absorbs the name, and knows that Astra knew the myth too and knew the implications. There is a look deep in her eyes that says “yes, she is my redemption, but not only her.” Alex just smiles a wisp of a smile and says, “Kara picked it out.”

 

“Of course she did.” Astra looks at Kara with more love in the world than Alex has ever seen before looking back at Vega. She starts to coo in Krpytonese and Alex melts a bit.

 

But eventually Vega starts to wiggle about after a long while. It’s not a storybook and to Vega right at this instance, Astra is not her mother. Astra tries to soothe her when she starts to fret, but she doesn’t calm. After a few moments a bit of the light goes out of Astra’s face as she holds Vega up to Alex, knowing that this particular battle isn’t worth fighting. Keeping Vega happy is what is important. And besides all will come in good time, as with many things.

 

Alex takes Vega and looks down at her face, smiling again, eyes drooping tiredly. “That’s your _Ieiu_ right there, baby girl. She’s traveled a long way to meet you.” Her pronunciation is a bit off, but she hasn’t practiced in a long while with Kara, but the fact that Astra is Vega’s mother just as much as she is remains the same no matter how bad she botched the Kryptonian.

 

“I never thought I’d hear that word directed at me,” Astra says quietly.

 

“Well, you’re going to hear it a lot. She’ll start talking soon enough.”

 

Astra looks up at the ceiling of Alex’s apartment, out and through the plaster and wood into the sky beyond that’s turning towards night as they sit together, and she nods for a few long seconds, taking it all in once more. “Yes. I suppose she will.”


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: What was Astra's routine with baby Vega when she was mostly staying at home with her?

It takes Astra a month or two to really get into the groove of taking care of Vega full time. She had underestimated just how much work being a full-time parent could be, really, and she had to come up with almost a military tactical approach to getting everything done that needed done in a day. Or perhaps more like getting everything she wanted to get done in a day. She always has been quite the over achiever.

 

When she does settle into a routine, it looks something like this, give or take an activity or two depending on the day or if she’s desperately needed by the DEO for some alien mission.

 

Astra wakes up at five am every morning, not because she sets an alarm, but because after all the years in the military, she’s incapable of sleeping past seven am even at her most tired. Five am is around usual otherwise. She doesn’t mind so much because it’s quiet out in the world, or as quiet as National City ever is. Alex isn’t up yet and baby Vega is still fast asleep dreaming of whatever it is infants do. Astra looks in on her every morning before she goes out to the living room and goes about her morning exercise routine. It’s not that she needs it on this planet, but the routine helps her.

 

By the time she’s done she starts the coffee and fifteen minutes or so later, Alex stumbles in from her bedroom, bleary-eyed and grumpy until she sits down with a cup of coffee and drinks about half of it, and then she’s an actual human being again. By that time Astra slides a plate of food in front of Alex and sits down with her own huge portion. Usually it’s some derivative of eggs and bacon, but sometimes, if she finds the right things, things that are almost the same as on Krypton, but not, she makes imitations of the dishes from her home. They almost taste the same, but the almost sometimes leaves her more homesick than before. Alex, she knows, of course, and on those mornings she compliments Astra’s cooking quietly before offering a comforting squeeze on her shoulder and cleaning up the dishes.

 

After Astra feeds the both of them she gets Vega up at six forty-five. Vega is much like her second mother in that she doesn’t like mornings until after she’s up and around for a little while. Astra just carries her around for a half an hour or so while she does some of the lighter chores so Vega can get used to the waking world. Once Vega starts playing with her hair instead of lounging lazily against her shoulder, Astra knows she’s up for the day and goes to fix breakfast.

 

When she comes Vega is already starting on soft solids. She mashes bananas and other fruits into paste and feeds it to her daughter spoonful by spoonful. Sometimes half of it gets in her hair or on Vega herself. It’s why she doesn’t shower after her workout, but when Vega’s down for her morning nap. She learned very quickly to adjust her schedule to such things so now she just shakes her head at Vega’s antics.

 

“The food is supposed to go in you, _Inah_ , not on me.”

 

Vega just smiles at her and claps her hands.

 

Astra shakes her head and wipes them both off before cleaning up the kitchen once more and setting Vega up in the living room with her favorite toys. Most mornings she plays with the little girl for an hour or two, making up for lost time. She speaks all in Kryptonese and Vega seems to be picking it up fairly quickly. She calls Astra _Ieiu_  more often than not now and she’s picked up other basic words as well. It makes Astra wish that she had been there for her first word, but this is enough.

 

When Vega starts to seem sleepy, Astra gives her the first bottle of the day and burps her before putting her down for her morning nap. Then and only then does she shower. She’ll stay clean until past lunch if she’s lucky. She’d heard the phrase being a mother is dirty work, but she never realized how literal it was.

 

After the shower she goes about more chores. There’s always so much laundry and she always finds herself in the basement of their apartment building with a god awful amount of the human currency called quarters, putting in load after load. If Vega stirs while she’s away she’s up the stairs to get her child in a flash before returning. Vega seems to like the laundry room, though Astra can’t imagine why. She’ll sit happily on top of the washer by Astra and look around as if everything is brand new. Astra watches her sometimes and smiles softly. Her daughter.

 

In-between laundry loads she goes up and picks up toys and cleans another room, she has a rotating schedule for things. Bathrooms on Mondays, change the sheets on Tuesdays, and the like. Then it’s onto lunch, mashed veggies for Vega, peas are her favorite, and at least four sandwiches for Astra herself. Mashed peas, consequently also happen to be the most difficult vegetable to scrub out of her hair. She wonders sometimes if Vega knows that and just likes them so she can giggle more at Astra. Her daughter is rather smart after all for a tiny one her age.

 

After lunch Astra settles Vega in front of the TV for an hour or two of educational programs while she herself logs onto the internet and scrolls around, taking in as much information as she can. There’s politics and history and Earth ecology and human biology, and their laughable chemistry and physics, though sometimes there are glimmers of things that Krypton hadn’t yet figured out, but those are few and far between. It’s important to her that she never stops learning and so she reads all that she can. Alex’s association with a local university that she consults with gives her access to all the peer-reviewed journals and she reads those, she reads classic literature that has been scanned online, she reads everything, truly, with little discretion all while Vega happily laughs along to the show that Astra chose because it will teach her Spanish.

 

By the time Vega’s afternoon nap rolls around it’s time to start working on dinner. Astra may take Vega with her to go shopping. She sleeps in her car seat easily and does not stir, even in the loudest of environments, but on days where she doesn’t need to shop, she quietly gets everything ready. With all the time that she has, it’s usually something fairly complicated. Learning new Earth dishes amuses her and keeps her mind occupied. Sometimes, though, Earth tastes mystify her. Why is there so much butter in southern cooking? She doesn’t understand.

 

Vega wakes up around the time that Alex usually gets home. Alex waves hi to Astra, giving a quick word or two about how her day went, before going back and scooping up an already awake Vega and carrying her back out to the kitchen before she talks more. Alex definitely misses their daughter while she is away. Astra can see it in the way she cuddles Vega close. It makes Astra smile and her insides warm up. Of all the people on this planet, she is glad that Vega was taken in by Alex. There is no better person.

 

They all eat dinner together and this time it’s Alex who gets mashed food in various places and Astra just laughs while Alex pouts. After dinner it’s a bath for Vega, though mostly it’s just Vega sitting in a tub full of water with a myriad of toys playing while Astra and Alex look on fondly. After she’s dried off, Alex plays with her for a little while and when she starts to nod off, she takes her back to her room and reads to her, easy picture books most of the time, but sometimes Alex pulls out other things like Harry Potter and The Chronicles of Narnia because honestly, you can only read so many picture books.

 

When Vega is asleep, Alex walks back out and joins Astra on the couch for another couple hours. Sometimes they watch TV, Astra does need to catch up on her pop culture after all, sometimes they sit together, each on their own computer, sometimes they read, and Astra’s most treasured nights of all are when they talk about everything that crosses their mind. She learns a great deal about the other woman, about Kara growing up, about human life, about Vega’s first months, about so many important things. She tells Alex things too, what it was like on Krypton as an adult, her time in the military, all the things that came before her life was thrown into chaos because those other things are for the dark of the night, not the tranquil evening.

 

But even that comes to an end eventually as Alex slips off to shower and get ready for bed. Astra turns the couch into her own bed and settles down. She grabs one of the paperbacks that Alex has, and reads some more until her eyes grow heavy and she too falls asleep to start everything again in the morning.


	7. Chapter 7

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: How long does it take for little Vega to start reaching out to Astra wanting her to take her from whomever is holding her? And how would Astra react to Vega starting to gravitate toward her?

It takes Vega about three and a half months before she realizes that Astra is the same as mommy and Kara and grandma, she’s family, she’s safe, and Vega will stay in her arms as long as Astra wants to hold her. And Astra always wants to hold her. That was really how they’d gotten to this point. Astra would hold her for as long as Vega would let her and then at the first sign of discomfort would hand Vega back to Alex without protest. What her child wanted was more important than her feelings at all times.

 

 It takes Astra some time to notice it, the first time that Vega doesn’t start to squirm eventually.The time spans that she could hold her little girl had been growing longer and longer anyway, but now instead of wriggling away, Vega slowly starts to fall asleep instead, hand curled around Astra’s white streak like it always seems to be when Vega’s in Astra’s arms. And she falls asleep and stays asleep, not just a little nap like babies and toddlers are prone to take at short notice. She feels safe enough to truly and deeply sleep in Astra’s arms.

 

When Astra notices, her breath catches, but that’s all. She doesn’t want to wake her darling one. But her heart is still pounding in her chest, soaring above them all, leaping with hope. This is the first instant she truly and deeply feels like a mother and she knows that she’ll never forget it. It’s terrifying, knowing that this little one in her arms depends on her, will be shaped by her, but Astra has had so many other terrifying things happen to her, that this one is nothing but a drop of water in an already filled bucket, and this terror is one she will gladly accept unlike all the others.

 

 And it is not a sensation she has to bear alone, there is Alex by her side who she knows feels the same way. They can work together. In the past few months they have made a very, very good team and she thinks that it will continue on. She desperately hopes it will because there is just something about Alex that she can’t name, but draws her to the other woman besides the fact that they are both mothers to the little girl in her arms. Figuring that out, however, is not something that needs to happen now, so she just starts to hum a quiet, Kryptonian lullaby to Vega while smiling.

 

Astra’s unaware of Alex looking on, smiling at the both of them too.

 

-

 

A few weeks later Alex and Astra are at the DEO, Vega in tow because Astra is needed for a mission and no one can really babysit a superpowered toddler except for an organization that knows about the superpowered toddler. Alex almost feels bad for the person who has to watch Vega because now that she’s completely steady on her feet she gets into everything, especially now that her super strength is more like a grown, very physically fit teenaged boy than the ten year old boy-like strength is had been when she first came out of the pod. She figures it will be a trainee, though, and it will be a good training exercise, honestly. Trying to corral a toddler took more strategy than anyone was willing to admit.

 

They do indeed leave their little girl with a trainee fresh out of college with a host of babysitting experience under her belt from high school and summer breaks from university who assures both Alex and Astra that she’s great with kids and will take the best care of their daughter. Alex sees Astra narrow her eyes skeptically, but Alex just nods and thanks the girl. They set off for the mission, but not before Astra eyes the girl over her shoulder a few more times just to make sure Vega is ok even if it is only a few seconds later.

 

When they return the trainee is holding Vega and carrying her around the DEO, providing a running commentary to the girl about what everyone is doing and what all the shiny bobbles and buttons do. Vega seems to be paying attention until she catches sight of Astra and Alex and then she wiggles in the trainee’s grip, excitedly.

 

“ _Ieiu_!” she screams in that high pitched childish voice. Astra makes it to the trainee’s side just in time to catch Vega before she tips out of the trainee’s arms and onto the floor.

 

“ _Inah_ , darling one.” Her daughter, her darling one, she had seen her and Alex and had chosen to go to her. Astra swallows as she bounces her little girl and thanks Rao, even though she’s not entirely sure she believes in him even now, because she is just so thankful that this is how her life has turned out.

 

Alex comes up behind them and tickles Vega’s sides. “Hey there, short stuff, what do you say we go home?”

 

“Home!” Vega agrees.

 

Alex hip checks Astra gently. “You heard the girl, home. That’s where the f-o-o-d is and I’m sure by now she’s starving.”

 

Astra nods, yes, home sounds good to her too. And so does food. She is Kryptonian after all.


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: How often does Astra find herself checking up on baby!Vega during the night when she can't sleep? Does she ever accidentally wake her up? Does Astra have nightmares about Non finding Vega? What's Astra's reaction to Vega crawling to her at top speed the first time it happens?

Astra’s dreams have never been quiet, peaceful things, at least not since she was a child. Being a soldier stripped her of any such luxury when she was a young adult, and the years in Fort Rozz had not helped. She sees a great many things behind shut eyelids, her sister’s face right before she was beamed to Fort Rozz, her planet exploding, Kara dying, her past comrades dying, more and more death than she ever wants to experience. She thanks whoever is listening that Kryptonians do not need much sleep on Earth because she is sure she would not get enough were that not true.

 

Not long after landing her dreams take a turn for the worse, which she thought impossible until the first time she sees Vega dying in front of her, fading away in that manner only possible in dreams. Astra screams and screams and tries to rescue her, but no matter what she does, nothing works. She wakes up in a sweat on the couch, breathing hard and crying. She’s up and checking on Vega in her room before she even consciously thinks about it. It’s only when she sees the little girl sleeping peacefully does she take a deep breath and her heart rate drops again. She stands there for a long time afterward just watching, until the morning light starts to stream in through the window and she finally makes herself leave to go fix breakfast.

 

It goes on like that for a while. Astra will have bad dreams, all of them featuring Vega in some way, all of them horrible. The worst are the ones where she dies, though in a close second are the ones where Non finds them and takes Vega for himself. She had the same dreams when she had first sent off Vega in her pod, but they had faded as the days passed and it was clear that Non was none the wiser about what she had done. Now she wonders if they will ever fade again. Non is dead and gone and her mind still sees fit to show her these dreams. She almost wishes that the sleeping pills for humans would work just so she could have one night without the dreams for once in her life.

 

Times passes and Astra starts to figure out a few ways to reduce the number of dreams. If she checks on Vega right before she goes to sleep she will have at least one REM cycle where she sleeps soundly. The one time she accidentally falls asleep in the rocking chair in Vega’s room she sleeps the whole night through, but she is not about to put that burden onto her child, so she does not make it a habit. Chamomile tea also seems to calm them somewhat to the point where she can make it three or four hours. If she goes to check on Vega after she wakes in the middle of the night after a dream she can fall back into a restless sleep again if she wants, but often she doesn’t want. Four hours seems to be more than enough to keep her going as long as she goes out to sit in the sun once a day, which is infinitely easier and so she just does that instead.

 

Some nights she finds Alex in the doorway to Vega’s room. They stand side by side and watch their daughter for a long time, not saying anything. They never wake their daughter. Vega sleeps like the dead most of the time, surprisingly even after her super hearing kicks in. To Astra it reminds her of the way Kara used to sleep when she was as young as Vega. She whispers that thought to Alex after they shut the door to Vega’s room and Alex just smiles and tells her that Kara still sleeps like that even now. Astra is relieved that some things manage to stay the same no matter what.

 

On these nights with Alex most of the time they end up in Alex’s room afterward, talking until morning, neither of them eager to go back to sleep. The subjects differ, Astra asks about the Earth, things she couldn’t quite figure out during her studies, Alex asks her about Krypton and what it was like for an adult, they talk about the DEO and Alex’s research and mission docket. And sometimes, on the darkest of nights, they talk about what they dream about, in hushed voices that barely carry to superpowered ears as if spoken words will make everything real.

 

It’s on a night in the middle of winter with the rain whipping outside that ends with Alex crying silent tears. Astra moves across the bed and hugs Alex to her, feeling raw from discussing her own fears, but never too raw to comfort a friend that has allowed her to have so much. Alex cries and cries until she’s exhausted. She doesn’t move from Astra, if anything she squeezes on tighter, and eventually falls asleep on top of Astra. Astra doesn’t move much, doesn’t try to ease Alex off of her, she just floats them down until both of them are spread over the bed and closes her eyes. Sometime in the wee hours of the morning, Astra herself falls back asleep as well and does not dream for the first time in endless years.

 

The next morning they wake up together and say nothing about what had happened, they just go about their day. When Alex returns from work, though, she scoops up the blankets from the couch that Astra’s been sleeping on and takes them to her room. Astra gives her a questioning look, but Alex just shrugs it off as a practical move. Astra, however, sees it for what it is. Alex had slept as well as she had, it seemed. So she just nods at Alex’s explanation and lets it go. If there is any way to help the other woman she will take it, she will always take it. She cares for Alex, she realizes, just as much as she cares for Vega, and there is nothing she wouldn’t do for those she cares about. So that night and every night after she slips into bed beside Alex. She isn’t surprised when sleeps until morning.


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: How is Hank with baby!Vega? Does he ever watch her for Alex? What does Vega call him? He does kind of have more experience with infants than probably Alex and Astra combined.

Those first few months with Vega, Alex only catches glimpses of Hank being soft around the baby. He puts on that grumpy space dad attitude, but still cracks show through the act. There’s the time that Alex totally catches him bouncing Vega up and down and cooing at her in an almost echoing language that has to be Martian. Alex’s has never, ever heard him speak in his native language, and she’s shocked beyond belief and the scientist in her wants to listen in to understand. But she pretends she doesn’t notice the scene in front of her and backs away. Hank probably knows that she saw, but he never says anything about it either, and there’s a sort of silent understanding there.

 

Another time she catches Hank singing Vega a song she doesn’t recognize, coming back from a mission, exhausted enough she wonders if she’s imagining it. When she turns the corner, Vega is cradled in Hank’s arms, fast asleep and Hank is singing to her softly. It’s another moment she doesn’t mention, but she feels her heart melt inside her as she smiles and slips back out to talk to Vasquez for a little while to give Hank some time with Vega.

 

The little incidents keep happening throughout the first months that Alex has Vega, but when Astra arrives and Alex takes Vega to the DEO less they trickle off. Alex doesn’t need to be a mind reader to see that Hank misses the girl sometimes. And of course, that gets Alex to thinking, she is a problem solver after all.

 

When she first suggests that Hank take Vega for a night, Astra doesn’t react favorably. It hasn’t been that long since she got her daughter back and she’s reluctant to let Vega out of her sight. Alex tries to take the reasonable track that Astra having a day to herself wouldn’t be a bad thing, in fact it might be better to have a bit to recharge and come back to Vega re-energized. Astra just gives Alex an unamused look at that and says no once more.

 

It takes Kara, an elaborate girls night out plan that involves some sort of Kryptonian ritual that Kara never got upon reaching her majority, and a promise that Alex would stay behind at the apartment, always within reach of Hank to get Astra to agree to let Vega go. Alex hugs Astra after she finally says yes. It’s the first hug that they’ve shared and both of them tense up for a long second before relaxing. It’s new and different, and there’s something there…but it definitely isn’t bad, probably just the awkwardness of new friends getting to know one another. Probably.

 

For Hank, all she has to do is make herself seem as desperate as possible, to have her mind shouting out just the thoughts that she wants and none of the others, and begs Hank to take Vega for just a night so Astra can go on this retreat with Kara and so she can have a quiet night in with Lucy and Vasquez, some wine, and some movies, because she hasn’t had a me day in what seems like forever. She was sure that if Hank had really wanted to he could have looked passed her surface thoughts and called her on what she was doing, but she knows he didn’t. The ruse provided him with just enough cover for the grumpy space dad persona to remain intact while getting what he really wanted. It was a win-win on all sides, really.

 

Friday she brings Vega with her to work and hands her off immediately to Hank. He disappears not long after that, to where, Alex doesn’t know, but she knows her daughter is safer than most toddlers her age considering she’s with Hank and Hank would rather die than see a child hurt. She goes home and has her movie night with her friends and the next morning calls Hank to pick up Vega, just as scheduled.

 

When Vega gets back she looks up at Alex with her wide grey-green eyes and says, “When Uncle Hanky?”

 

Alex tilts her head. “When Uncle Hanky what, sweetheart?”

 

“When go?” Vega tugs on Alex’s shirt and looks outside.

 

“You mean when can you go back to Uncle Hanky’s?” Alex has to keep herself from laughing at the nickname Vega chose for him. She’s sure Hank just loves that Vega calls him the same name as an old fashioned snot rag.

 

Vega nods in answer to her question.

 

“Well, munchkin, we’ll see, but if you want to go back, then we’ll definitely make it happen.”

 

Vega smiles and god, it lights up Alex’s world every single time.

 

So visits to Uncle Hanky’s become a fairly regular occurrence over the years. She doesn’t ask Vega what she and Hank do while she’s there, and Vega, strangely, stays quiet about her visits too. Astra tries to get more out of Vega once she is older and more able to convey her thoughts, but Vega just smiles and says that Uncle Hanky is fun, and that’s it. If Alex had to guess, Hank teaches her about Mars, the rituals and history of his culture that no one else on the planet, or in the universe perhaps, knows anymore, and then of course there would probably be other fun things, games and meals and whatnot to entertain a child too. As far as she’s concerned it’s another thing that she knows, but is never mentioned, and Alex is fine with that. All she cares about is seeing Vega smile, and Hank, well, he rarely smiles, but she knows the look in his eyes that says he’s smiling internally, and as long as she can do something to make the both of them happy, she doesn’t much care about the details.


	10. Chapter 10

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Does tiny!Vega ever crawl or toddle after Astra when she's walking around the house like 'Ey! Where you going without me?!' And is she a tiny escape artist?

Once Vega can walk on her own she goes through a stage where she wants to be just like her _Ieiu_. Her favorite phrase becomes “ _Ieiu_  do it, I do it,” sometimes in a ridiculous amalgamation of English, Kryptonese, and Spanish from the videos that Astra puts on when she needs to keep Vega occupied while she’s doing something where she can’t easily watch the girl every second. Of course, that only works now when Vega doesn’t want to follow Astra around every second of every day “helping” Astra with whatever she’s doing at that moment. Astra finds it endearing, of course, even if it slows down the chores she’s doing by a great margin. She figures it’s good for Vega to learn basic life skills early on anyway, even if folding clothes becomes twice the work. Twenty-two-month-olds do not understand what a straight line is, not really.

 

It does lead to some sticky situations, though. Once when Astra had put Vega down for her afternoon nap and all of the immediate chores were done Astra wandered back to her and Alex’s room for some alone time, which in a house full of a toddler and another adult is few and far between. She made the mistake of not locking the door, thinking that Vega would be asleep for at least an hour and a half and that was not the case at all. Vega kicks open the door right when Astra is about to come and walks over to the bed. Astra is mortified, but she scrambles as subtly as possible to wipe her hand off and make herself presentable by the time Vega climbs up beside Astra.

 

“What _Ieiu_  doing?” Vega asks, crawling beside Astra.

 

Astra says the first thing that comes to mind. “I was napping like you’re supposed to be doing, darling one.” She tickles Vega’s sides quickly, causing the little girl to giggle.

 

“ _Ieiu_  takes naps too?”

 

Well, Astra supposes, it could be thought of like that in a way. She wasn’t completely lying when she said, “of course, adults get tired too.”

 

“Can nap with _Ieiu_?” Vega asks, already yawning again.

 

“Of course you can nap with me, _Inah_.” She curls the girl closer to her and sighs, relaxing into the bed as Vega falls back to sleep almost instantly.

 

For the rest of the few months that Vega follows her around Astra never makes the mistake of not locking the door, though for a while there isn’t even an instance that she needs too. She’s too mortified, thinking of her child walking in on her like that to attempt a repeat. Her own needs win out eventually, but not before Astra checks the lock three times and uses her x-ray vision to make sure everyone is still where they should be before she can relax.

 

Alex, when she finds out, of course has the greatest laugh about it. Astra almost shoots her with a weak beam of her heat vision just to get her back, because she’s blushing hard enough that it wouldn’t be hard to channel that heat into other sources, but she refrains. Instead, she throws a pillow lightly at the other woman and leaves it at that.

 

She gets her revenge later when Vega is three and decides that Alex is the best thing since sliced bread and suctions onto her. The other woman doesn’t learn from Astra’s mistake and doesn’t lock the bathroom door. Astra hears Vega open the door, but doesn’t make a move to intervene. She just cackles as Alex has to explain exactly what she’s doing to an ever curious three year old and goes back to making dinner.


	11. Chapter 11

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Does baby!Vega ever sleep with Astra? Like after a bad dream (either from Astra or Vega) or when her powers are acting up?

Vega doesn’t really start crawling into bed with them until she’s about two and a half. She’s just starting into a very clingy stage where she hardly wants to leave her mothers’ sides, not even for Kara or Eliza. Eliza had patted Alex on the arm when Vega had cried and screamed for her mothers not to leave her the last time they dropped her by Eliza’s place for an overnight and told Alex that she had gone through the same thing when she was Vega’s age, but that it had passed within a few months. Alex hopes that holds because her heart practically shreds every time Vega cries for them, and Astra, oh Astra is even worse. She feels as if her world is ending all over again, and yet she knows coddling Vega and never leaving her side will do her no good either.

 

At this point Alex and Astra have been sharing the same bed for a while now. It’s been almost two years since Astra fell from the sky just as her daughter had, and really even for a Kryptonian who never gets sore, sleeping on the couch gets old. Or that had been the excuse they had reached for months ago that first few times. Now, they know they are heading towards…something, even if neither of them want to put a name to it quite yet. But that thing hasn’t quite blossomed to the point where Vega crawling into bed with them might be an issue just yet, thank goodness.

 

Astra is the first to wake up to the patter of little feet in their room, always on alert, her days as a soldier never really leaving her. She bends over the side of the bed when Vega has trouble getting the leverage needed to pull herself up and pulls her daughter so she’s laying between her and Alex.

 

“ _Inah_ , is something wrong?” Astra asks quietly, but not quietly enough not to wake Alex.

 

“Wha’s goin’ on?” Alex asks, still half asleep.

 

Vega just buries herself into Astra’s side and closes her eyes. Alex sees Vega and wakes up a bit more.

 

“Is she ok?” Alex asks, scooting closer, rubbing her hand up and down Vega’s back.

 

“I have no idea.” Astra turns towards Vega once more. “Darling one, did you have a nightmare?”

 

Vega shakes her head sleepily.

 

“Did something in your room scare you?” Alex asks.

 

Another head shake.

 

Alex and Astra just look at each other a bit mystified at what’s going on and why Vega would come to them in the middle of the night, but their daughter seems fine and is currently half asleep again already, so whatever it was must not have been bad, just a child wanting her mothers. So after a moment of staring they both shrug and lay down again, Vega in-between them, and fall asleep almost as easily as Vega had before them.

 

That night starts an almost nightly tradition of Vega finding them in the middle of the night, climbing into bed, and falling back asleep before Alex or Astra could even ask her if everything was alright. It goes on for a few months, then starts to taper off again, right as Vega starts to come out of her shell again.

 

Astra misses her presence in the bed immensely those first few days even as she is glad Vega is learning to branch out again. It leaves her restless, though, tossing and turning in bed to the point where it wakes Alex. Alex grumbles and groans through two days of this but on the third she scoots over in bed, wraps  her arms around Astra and tells her to go the fuck to sleep already. Alex’s arms around her aren’t the weight of her little girl by her side, but somehow it lulls her to sleep anyway and that night she sleeps deeply.

 

Vega comes in sporadically afterwards for bad dreams and just to be comforted, but be it Vega or Alex, it becomes clear after that Astra always needs someone by her side to sleep soundly. A part of Astra tells her this is weakness, but the other, larger part, just tells her that she is finally and truly happy.


	12. Chapter 12

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Propmt: How exactly did alex and astra finally figure out they had feelings for each other? Did Vega assume that they did,?

The physical parts of their relationship come before they realize just how deep in they are. Vega’s a bit older than three the first time they fall into bed together. It’s after a mission that went both horribly and amazingly. Amazingly because they actually got the leader of an alien resistance when they thought they were only going to get a small cell on the fringe, and so no more operations will have to be run to take them down, or at least nothing huge now. Horribly because there were so many more aliens there and so their force had been underprepared and there had been a great amount of loss on their side. It’s a strange mix of grief and adrenaline that flows through them as they lay down for the night. Alex snuggles up to Astra as they have been doing for almost a year now, but something shifts between them and the adrenaline ratchets up.

 

Astra turns over in Alex’s arms and just looks at her for a long moment, seeing everything even in the shadows of the dark room. Alex can see Astra in the little bit of moonlight slipping through the curtains, eyes more silver here than green. They’re both gripping onto the other as if they can’t believe they made it through, and really, they can’t. It had almost been a suicide mission without them ever knowing it was in the first place. Astra closes her eyes after a long second and her body shudders as if holding back a sob. Alex just hugs her harder and whispers that she’s here over and over again.

 

The next time they pull apart, just enough to see the other’s face, they both move at the same moment and then they’re kissing, slow and gentle and desperate. Alex places her hand above Astra’s heart to make sure it’s beating and Astra’s hands are between Alex’s shoulder blades, feeling them rise and fall with her breathing. Then kissing isn’t close enough and Astra’s hands are under Alex’s shirt and Alex shifts so she’s laying on top of Astra, pressing down into her. It escalates from there and clothes are shed and bodies entwined and learned with utmost care until the night slips into day and finally they can believe that they survived. It isn’t the perfect first time, but it’s the first time that they needed.

 

Of course, that first time changes things. For the first little bit they’re awkward because really, they’re Alex “Repressed Feelings” Danvers and Astra “Stoic to a Fault” In-Ze, but that doesn’t last too long. They actually make the first move at the same time. Alex shows up from work with flowers and a prepared speech to ask Astra out on a real date and Astra makes Alex’s favorite meal and picks up a good bottle of wine and an almost tactical plan of action because you can take the General out of the army but, well.

 

So Alex shows up at the door and then Astra opens it while Alex is still psyching herself up for what’s to come. She kind of looks like a deer in the headlights, but she thrusts the flowers out at the same time that Astra speaks.

 

“Ah, Alexandra, come in, I have dinner set out for us. I was hoping we could talk just the two of us.”

 

Alex blinks again, all that intellect stopped dead in front of a beautiful woman. “Um, yeah, I was kinda hoping so too.”

 

Astra takes the flowers with a smile and leads Alex inside. The dinner goes off without a hitch and Alex wonders why Kara didn’t inherit her aunt’s cooking skills because Jesus everything is wonderful and Kara burns water for fucks sake. The wine is even better and loosens Alex up just enough to really enjoy everything that’s going on. There are shy touches between them that belie the fact that they’ve already slept together and wide smiles and laughter at stories that they’ve yet to tell each other. It’s perfect.

 

When the wine is gone and the food is pushed aside they both take deep breaths and start speaking in a rush, one over top of the other.

 

“Astra, would you go out with me?” Alex says.

 

“Alexandra, I believe I would like to take you on a date,” Astra says, finishing half a second after Alex since she used a few more words.

 

They just stare at each other and laugh and laugh because of course this would happen to them. Alex wipes the tears from her eyes and sits up again after a few minutes, heart swelling, warm and so full.

 

“Yes, I’ll go out on a date with you.” Alex smiles so hard her cheeks actually hurt.

 

“Good, because I will return the favor.” Astra floats up over the table and kisses Alex softly. Alex winds her hands into Astra’s hair and feels as if she’s the one floating.

 

Their first date is to an outdoor theater that’s showing all three of the original star wars movies because honestly, it’s a crime that Astra hasn’t seen them, or at least Alex thinks so. They pack a huge picnic dinner and head out to sit under the stars while the movies play. Astra comments on things that aren’t even near to right (which is a whole hell of a lot of things) and Alex is both amused and annoyed at her favorite movie series being torn apart, but more than anything she just looks at Astra and feels lucky. About halfway through the second movie the temperature drops enough that Alex shivers. Astra is by her side in a second, tucking Alex into her side since she’s better than a space heater. Alex doesn’t shiver again. And at the end of all three movies when they’re packing all of their stuff to go home, Astra just looks at Alex under the light of the stars that only she can see in the middle of light polluted National City, and knows.

 

She stops Alex’s hands from folding the blanket the last time and kisses her, and this kiss, unlike the ones they had shared before was harder, almost a claiming. When she pulls back from a stunned Alex she just smiles and cups Alex’s face.

 

“I love you.”

 

Alex lets out such a huge breath Astra didn’t even think that human bodies could hold that much air, but then Alex’s is launching into Astra’s arms. “Me too. I love you too you stupid perfect alien general.”

 

Astra swallows hard, not believing it, but believing so fiercely it hurts in a raging pain that borders on pleasure. She never would have thought that this would be what she found on Earth, but here she is, in love with Alex, and has been in love, she realizes, for longer than she knows. She laughs and laughs and twirls Alex around a few times because they are in love and will go home to find their daughter asleep and Kara bumming around their apartment waiting for them to get back. They are in love and Vega is young enough that she won’t remember a time where they weren’t and their little girl will have a huge extended family that loves her all because Astra and Alex are in love and Rao above is it everything she ever wanted and more.


	13. Chapter 13

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: More with Alex and Astra and their baby girl? 
> 
> which somehow meant to my brain write about pre-school, so.

The day Alex and Astra drop their daughter off at preschool Astra cries, silent tears and choked sobs that make no noise because even still she does not want to draw attention to herself in this way. This is a woman who hasn’t cried since the minute after her feet hit the transport pad at Fort Rozz, but finally, finally she breaks down here and now. Alex just lets her have her moment because she knows that Astra never thought she would have this, never thought that she would have a family, let alone a child of her own since the laws of Krypton had forbade her from having one. She was an aberration that couldn’t be allowed to reproduce. But here they are with their daughter, Vega Astra-Ze Danvers, who beamed up at them, light eyes sparkling and dark hair with a white streak on the opposite side already slipping out of the neat braids that Astra had put it in that morning before she dashed off to play with the other kids. Here they are against all odds, death and time and space. Of course, there also is the feeling that their little girl is growing up too fast, but Astra’s tears are only slightly about that because she cannot wait to see the woman that Vega will become one day and she doesn’t really begrudge the time passing so much.

 

Alex, for her part, teared up most definitely, but she kept it together for Astra so the other woman could lean on her, bury her face in Alex’s neck and cry like she needed to. She had seen this coming from a million miles away. The back of her hand might be less familiar now than Astra is since she doesn’t exactly go to great lengths to memorize what it looks like, but by god does she try to memorize Astra. And so she leads a shaking Astra to the car and they drive off with their daughter firmly ensconced in National City’s safest and best pre-school for the day.

 

They take that day off, but Alex doesn’t let them rest for long, knowing that being idle today will make Astra go stir crazy and get ideas in her head about going to fly over the preschool and check on Vega. Vega, Alex knows, will be more than fine. She’s a bright and friendly little girl who has no fear, and maybe just a bit of sass, but then again she was bound to have that with who her moms are. She’ll win over the teachers as the adorable troublemaker and the kids as the fun and imaginative playmate. So she isn’t worried. But that doesn’t mean she doesn’t benefit from the grocery shopping, the house cleaning, the cooking of a rather romantic lunch, and the alone time that usually doesn’t come with there’s a small child in the house because it keeps her mind off of what little worry there would be.

 

When they clamber back into their clothes to pick Vega up from school, Astra is vibrating again with excitement and anxiety. She’s the first parent at the door when the bell rings. Hell, she has Vega in her car seat by the time Alex reaches the door. Alex just smiles and shakes her head and follows. Vega is regaling Astra with tales from her day with a huge smile on her face, and god, Alex is struck by just how much Vega looks like her mother. Non does not have a place in the girl besides deep down in her genetics and more’s the better for it. Astra smiles down at their daughter, that same bright expression that stops Alex’s heart, and Alex can see the moment where Astra finally relaxes. Their daughter is with them again. From the sounds of the stories she had a wonderful day and is excited to go back. Everything is right in the world and there is no need to worry. Alex reaches over and grabs Astra’s hand, her other hand on the steering wheel and she laughs warmly. Perhaps she thought that she would never have this either, but god, she wouldn’t give it up for anything.


	14. Chapter 14

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: For the Astra/Alex co-parenting Astra's kid, Imagine Astra having to get the baby Kryptonian off the ceiling because the baby started floating in her sleep and freaked the hell out when she woke up and can't figure out how to get down.

When it happens Vega is older, kindergarten aged. Her powers have been coming in slowly in fits and starts, first the invulnerability not long after she laned, then super strength, but thank god super strength for a baby is only around the strength of the average ten year old, thank you undeveloped muscles, then super speed, god that was a disaster, Alex still finds debris from the accidental destruction in dark corners of their apartment from when Vega ran straight through a wall, then hearing and vision so Vega has her own pair of lead lined glasses to match Kara’s. Latest, of course, is flying.

 

They’re woken up in the middle of the night by Vega’s screaming. Terrified screaming. Astra is on red alert, up and out of the bed in a gust of wind so strong it knocks Alex back down. Alex for her part is up the next second, gun in hand, kryptonite knife in its sheath stuck in the small of her back. She walks into Vega’s room on quiet feet, only to find no one there. She starts to freak out until Astra calls for her to look up. Then there they are, Vega cradled in Astra’s arms, Astra mumbling soothing things in Kryptonese. Alex slumps against the door, adrenaline flooding out of her in an instant.

 

“What happened?” Alex asks.

 

“As far as I can tell she floated up here in her sleep, woke up, realized she was floating and then couldn’t get down then got upset. Is that right, darling one?”

 

Vega just nods silently, breath still hiccupping in her throat, tears only just starting to dry.

 

“You know how to get her down?”

 

Astra nods this time and Alex sighs. She goes back to their room and puts away her weapons. Whatever Astra has in mind won’t work until Vega is calm, so she walks back and sits down on Vega’s bed, turns on the bedside lamp, picks up the book they’ve been reading, Island of the Blue Dolphins, and starts to read. Alex smiles, remembering reading this with her father when she was young, glancing up at Vega and Astra every now and again as she turns the pages. When the book gets to a rather important part, suddenly her lap is full of a very sleepy Vega, pointing at the pages.

 

“Will she be ok Mommy?” Her voice is quiet, English mixed with Kryptonese, too tired to sort her languages.

 

“I don’t know, we’ll have to keep reading to find out.”

 

And so Alex does just that. Astra floats down behind her after a moment, embracing Alex, and playing with Vega’s hair lightly. Vega falls asleep before the end of the conflict with the feral dogs. Alex kisses the crown of her head and Astra tucks her into bed easily. Alex puts the bookmark into the book a few pages back to make sure that Vega doesn’t miss anything on account of being tired, and her and Astra walk back to the room.

 

Settled between the sheets once more Alex laughs. “Can you imagine what laser vision will be like?”

 

Astra wraps her arms around Alex and mumbles into her neck, “Why do you think there’s a fire extinguisher in every room, Brave One?”

 

Alex just laughs again, of course Astra had already thought of that, and settles into sleep.


	15. Chapter 15

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: How old is Vega when she finds out how to get into the pantry? How do Astra and Alex deal with their tiny!Kryptonian suddenly eating everything she can get her hands on?

Alex and Astra manage to hide most of the food on shelves that Vega can’t reach, even if she climbs onto the counter, for the first few years anyway. It only takes Vega a few months after gaining the ability to fly that she realizes that her favorite fruit snacks are actually within her reach now at any time she wants. In fact, all the food is within her reach, not just the healthy snacks that they leave within her reach at all times. Alex and Astra want her to eat, of course, just maybe not eat them out of house and home, fruit and vegetables seemed like the best compromise. Of course, Vega doesn’t think so.

 

Vega realizes that if she’s going to break into the secret stash of goodies she either has to do so in the middle of her night, and her _Ieiu_  is a light sleeper and so is her mommy for a human, so maybe that isn’t the best idea. However, when her mommies are wrapped up in each other, hugging and kissing enough to make Vega squeal and run away, well, they really don’t notice much. Vega just has to wait for the perfect moment and the fruit snacks and cookies can be hers.

 

The opportunity comes after they’re all done with dinner and Vega’s homework is done. Alex doesn’t understand when Kindergarteners got homework, but Vega whizzes right through it anyway, so it really doesn’t matter. Vega thinks it’s all a game half the time, just like the quest to get cookies. Alex kisses Vega on the forehead and joins Astra on the couch. She’s scrolling through one of the websites that she tells Vega will help her help the world one day, but looks up when Alex sits down and smiles. Alex wraps her arm around Astra’s shoulder and leans in, kissing her softly. Vega watches for a few moments and when it looks like they aren’t going anywhere anytime soon she slips silently from her seat and slips around the corner to the kitchen.

 

Her heart is beating loudly in her chest and she hopes her _Ieiu_  doesn’t hear it when she opens the first cabinet carefully. The door doesn’t squeak so she lets out a breath in relief. The cookies and the fruit snacks are right there in front, waiting for her to ask her Mommy or _Ieiu_  for a package, and she asks for a package quite a bit. She smiles and grabs all that she can before she shuts the door just as quietly and darts back to her room.

 

Vega hides her goodies, holding her breath hoping she doesn’t hear the padding of feet down the hall anytime soon. When she doesn’t she flops back on her bed and thinks of what to do with her riches. And she is rich, in five year old terms at least. She decides that she’s going to have a tea party with actual cookies this time so even Mr. Beary can’t complain. Vega, despite being alien in origin, is about as creative with names as normal five year olds.

 

She ends up stealing from the cabinets a few more times before Alex and Astra really catch on. With two Kryptonians in the house it’s sort of hard to keep track of food, but when it’s only the snack food that’s consistently coming up missing, Alex puts two and two together.

 

When she tells Astra, Astra just sighs and says “So that explains the cookie crumbs on her sheets then. I did wonder.” She cocks an eyebrow. “So what do you propose we do?”

 

Alex, who really wants to know just how Vega is pulling off her little heists hesitates before laying out a plan that she thinks will work. It involves more DEO tech than is strictly legal for outside of work use, but she can twist the reasoning enough if questioned that it seems like it was all totally on the up and up.

 

Next time Vega tries to pilfer some potato chips, Astra and Alex suddenly appear beside her, both with disapproving looks on their faces. Vega nearly drops out of the air, but she catches herself at the last second. She gives her mommies the big puppy eyes that almost always get her what she wants and hopes she’s not in trouble.

 

“Um, I was hungry?” Nevermind that she had demolished two adult sized servings of lasagna, along with matching portions of salad and bread not an hour before.

 

Astra floats up beside her and takes Vega into her arms. “ _Inah_ , do you know why we keep all of the snack food up here?”

 

Vega shakes her head.

 

Alex reaches up and pokes her stomach. “Because while it tastes good, it’s not very good for growing little girls. You have some protection from all that because you’re Kryptonian and you need a lot more calories than anyone else your age, but Mommy and _Ieiu_  want you to grow up to be healthy and strong and that means not as many snacks.”

 

“Yes, darling one, and things when they are up high out of reach and out of sight are not as tempting as something left out in the open and at eye level, do you understand?” Astra adds.

 

Vega thinks this over for a minute before nodding. “I think so.”

 

Astra kisses her forehead and squeezes her tightly. “Good, so you’ll stop stealing food away to your room? If you really are hungry all you have to do is ask Mommy or I and we will get you something.”

 

“We usually have a cookie or two in there somewhere don’t we, munkin?” Alex tickles Vega’s stomach until Vega is a giggling mess.

 

“Yes, mommy, yes!” Vega laughs out.

 

“Thought so.” Alex reaches up on her tiptoes and grabs a snack size bag of chip before turning and grabbing a pack of baby carrots out of the fridge. “Here you go, baby girl, a snack.”

 

Vega takes the offered items and flies off to the table with a “Thanks Mommy!” thrown over her shoulder.

 

Alex and Astra just share a look and a shake of their head. Kids.


	16. Chapter 16

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: For the Vega series. How do Alex/Astra act when Vega asks if she has a father? Because she's in school and kids were like "You have to have a dad." Because hetero-normative. Maybe one kid said something later about maybe if one of Vega's moms is like the kid's dad (or mom), who is transgender. So maybe Vega asks if Astra or Alex is trans.

Vega comes back from her first day of first grade looking rather perplexed. It’s Alex’s day to pick her up, so she just lets Vega work out whatever is bothering her and trusts that she’ll speak up when she’s ready. It takes the two block walk home and the two flights of stairs to their apartment, but Vega finally speaks up when the door shuts behind them.

 

“Mommy, do I have a dad?” Vega asks quietly, looking up at Alex with those green-grey eyes so much like Astra’s.

 

Alex is taken aback, because honestly she never thought about Vega asking about a father. She’s seen families on TV and never once batted an eye. She’s read books with perfect little nuclear families too, but nothing. Her mind immediately goes to the kids at school because little kids can be the cruelest people there are on earth since they have exactly no filters and no real sense of what consequences for their actions can be sometimes.

 

She sets down her things slowly, thinking about the question and if she should wait until Astra gets home or not before talking about it. But then she figures that answering this question without Astra might be for the better. She knows that Astra still has nightmares every now and again about Non and she definitely doesn’t want to stir that up. If only Alex could bring him back from the dead just to murder him again, that asshole.

 

“The kids at school, sweetheart?”

 

Vega nods. “Yeah, Emerson said that I had to have a dad, not just two mommies. I told him that he was wrong, but he wouldn’t listen. Then Tyra said that it was possible if one of my mommies was like her mommy and was trans. That’s where the people are born into the wrong body, right Mommy?”

 

Alex nods. “That’s right, baby, it is. But no, neither your _Ieiu_  or I are trans.” She motions towards the kitchen. “Come on, let me get your afterschool snack ready for you while we talk, ok?”

 

Vega follows Alex into the kitchen. Alex pulls out the makings of vegetable pizza and sets to making it while she thinks of what to say. How much was appropriate to tell a six-year-old? She takes a deep breath and starts to speak.

 

“I wasn’t always together with your _Ieiu_ , and she wasn’t always with me either. You know the story of how we met, munckin. It was your favorite bedtime story when you were even littler.”

 

“Yeah, _Ieiu_  was trying to save the world but was going about it in a bad way and you were trying to stop her.”

 

Alex nods. “Yes, exactly. And then we met back up after you had crashed to Earth to help raise you. _Ieiu_  didn’t work alone on that mission to save the world though. One of her right-hand men was the man who is biologically your father. I say biologically because that’s all he really is to you, baby. Family is so much more than just shared DNA. So the kids in your class are right, you do have a father, but you don’t. You have your _Ieiu_  and I and we love you to the moon and back and we take care of each other. That is what family is.”

 

Vega plays with the edge of her shirt for a minute. “Yeah, I know, but…” she trailed off. “Did he ever know about me?”

 

Alex hears the words she really meant, ‘did he not love me? Is that why he’s not here?’

 

“No, he never did.” Alex looks up at Vega. “He was not a good man. _Ieiu_  wanted to save the world, he only wanted to destroy it and every human on it.” She sighed heavily. “Your _Ieiu_  found out she was pregnant with you not long after they had landed on the planet and she was so happy at first because she didn’t think she could have children. But she realized that Non was not a good person to have children with. He would have raised you in a way to make you a mean, violent person most likely, and _Ieiu_  knew that and never wanted that for you. So she sent you away in your pod. You were supposed to orbit the Earth a few times, but something happened and you didn’t crash until over ten years later. Your _Ieiu_  was willing to risk never knowing you because she knew you would have a better life without him, and that, munchkin, is what love and family are about.”

 

She slips the pizza in the oven to bake and walks over to Vega and hugs her. “But I’m glad that things worked out so she got to raise you, that we got to raise you. Because you two are the most important things in my life.” She dropped a kiss onto Vega’s head.

 

Vega is quiet for a long long time after Alex stops talking. Alex lets her think because what she just dropped on her was a lot, and even more for someone who’s six years old.

 

“If he was so bad, why did _Ieiu_  stay with him so long?” Vega asks as Alex pours a glass of juice and slides it to Vega.

 

Oh god, Vega just has all sorts of fun questions to answer today. Alex swallows and takes a stab at the answer, hoping it’s the right one. “Because leaving someone you’ve been with for a long time is hard, especially when you know that they might react badly to you leaving. They were still working towards the same goal and I think _Ieiu_  thought that it was enough. It wasn’t, it never would have been. But once Non was a different man, or at least some of the stories _Ieiu_  has told me makes it sound like that. They were friends once. And good times can tie you to people too in a way that nothing else can. It takes strength and courage to break that even if they’re treating you badly now. It’s never simple.”

 

Alex pulls the pizza out of the over and slices it up with quick, thorough motions. She puts it on a plate and slides it over to Vega. Vega picks up a slice and tucks into it, even though it’s still piping hot. Even now Alex still flinches at little at that mouth burn waiting to happen on anyone who wasn’t Kryptonian.

 

“But it’s why we’ve never told you about Non before. It’s hard for your _Ieiu_  to talk about him. She still has nightmares about that part of her life sometimes. Maybe it would be best if you didn’t ask her about him, but you can ask me if you want.”

 

Vega nods. “Ok.” She eats another piece of pizza. “Is it ok if I tell Emerson to shove it and that it’s possible to just have two mommies no matter what he says?”

 

Alex has to hold in a laugh. Oh she’s going to regret this tomorrow probably, but she opens her mouth and says, “Yes, baby, that’s fine.”

 

“Good.” Vega smiles and sets about finishing her pizza as fast as possible.

 

Oh, Alex is so totally going to end up in the principal’s office tomorrow with an unrepentant Vega, a stewing Astra, and a probably very miffed principal, but hey, such is life.


	17. Chapter 17

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Oh god I just realized Vega can hear /everything/. Alex and Astra should line their bedroom with lead if they're ever getting it on, because just... Vega being old enough to not be completely oblivious, waking up during the night, only to hear them moaning and thinking they're in pain?

It’s not until Vega’s older that this becomes a problem. She sleeps like the dead even with super hearing. Until Vega hits second grade, Alex or Astra reads until Vega is truly and soundly asleep at night before they go off to finish whatever other activities they had in mind of the night, watching TV, reading, or something much more pleasurable. Vega, at seven and a half, thank you very much, decides that she’s too old to be read to and that she can put herself to bed. Alex and Astra check on her for a little while, to make sure she’s actually asleep, but the checking dwindles off after it’s established that Vega is indeed going to sleep just as promised.

 

One of the nights that neither of her mothers checks on her, Vega stays up reading because she just has to know what happens. She’s reading The Giver and she’s on the last few chapters and she can get done before too long, she thinks. It’s a lie that all book lovers tell themselves at one point or another. Or more than one point really. But Vega’s too into the story to really pay that lie much mind.

 

She doesn’t notice anything is wrong until she actually finishes the book and comes out of the world that she’s been immersed in. Vega hears a noise and she perks up, extending her hearing out carefully so she doesn’t overload herself. The moment she hears her Mommy moan in pain she’s up and out of the bed, floating in the air, ready to do something, but she stops to listen for another minute so to really get a grip on what’s happening. Mommy and Ieiu  have taught her that she can’t just charge into situations, she has to have information to make good decisions.

 

But then her Ieiu  is moaning too and both her mothers are breathing hard like they’re in pain. If both her mothers are being hurt she has to try something. Maybe she should call Aunt Kara. She would know what to do. Because if they took out her mommies then she’s not going to be big enough to take them. She could be quicker, maybe, because she was smaller, but not strong enough. Or maybe they had Kryptonite and all her powers would be useless and she would be sick. So she raises her window quietly and she slips out and flies to Kara’s apartment.

 

She wakes Kara up with frantic knocking on the window, trying to keep firmly to the shadows so no one sees here from the ground. Mommy would be mad if she found out that she had flown without permission, but this was to save them.

 

Kara opens the window, sleep tussled, with Cat not far behind her. “Vega? What are you doing here?”

 

“Aunt Kara, someone’s attacking my mommies!” Vega whisper-shouts.

 

Kara’s instantly alert. “What? How? Why?”

 

Vega shakes her head. “I was reading a book and I didn’t hear anything until I finished so I don’t know. But they were moaning in pain and I thought it would be better to get you then try to face whoever it was myself.”

 

Kara slips out the window. “Good girl, you did the right thing. Stay here with Cat, ok? I’ll be back as soon as possible.” She flies off and Vega slips inside Kara’s apartment. Cat bundles her away to the kitchen, feeding her some carrots and milk to try and distract her from everything if only barely.

 

When Kara returns she’s red in the face and can’t look Vega or Cat in the face.

 

“What’s wrong, dear?” Cat asks.

 

“Um, they really weren’t in pain,” Kara says, stealing some of Vega’s carrots and shoving them in her mouth.

 

Vega squints because Cat immediately gets what Kara means, but Vega has no idea what’s going on. She opens her mouth to ask what Kara what she meant, but then her Ieiu  is beside her and grabbing the last of her carrots.

 

“Inah , it’s time to go back home. Say goodbye to your Aunt and Cat.”

 

Vega looks around for a minute, to her Ieiu  who is definitely blushing, Cat who is smirking, and Aunt Kara who is shoved so far in the fridge that she’s bent in half. The only thing that Vega can think is that adults are weird. So she gets up and follows Astra out into the night again and right back to bed at her mother’s orders.

 

A few days later Vega comes home and Uncle Hanky and a few other people Vega recognizes from the DEO are there, carrying what looks like lead paneling to Vega considering she can’t see through it with her x-ray vision and soundproofing material too. They’re disappearing in and out of her moms’ room and there is the sound of hammers drills. She finds her Mommy in the middle of the chaos.

 

“Mommy, what’s going on?”

 

“Oh nothing, munchkin, we’re just making our room safer so no one else can hurt us.” But her heartrate spikes and Vega thinks there’s something her Mommy is leaving out.

 

“Are you sure?” Vega asks.

 

“I’m sure.”

 

Vega accepts the answer, if only grudginly as Uncle Hanky comes over and starts talking to her, asking about her day as a distraction.

 

It isn’t until a few years later when Vega realizes what happened. The minute she does realize it, she screams ew loud enough to have her mothers run into the room, but Vega can’t look at them either. At least whatever they had done had fixed the problem so she’s only a little bit traumatized. But a little bit is a little bit too much as far as she’s concerned.


	18. Chapter 18

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Does Vega ever ask Astra about Krypton? And what's Astra's reaction to the first time she has a tiny Kryptonian toddling at her at full speed happy to see her?

When Astra gets home later on her day to work late, Vega always comes charging towards her, shouting _Ieiu_! at the top of her lungs. Astra’s reaction is always the same, a swelling of her heart and warmth suffusing her being. She smiles and catches Vega as the little girl launches herself at Astra. It’s been their routine practically since Vega had just learned to walk. She feels as if there will never be any moment in her life that will ever match the moments where Vega runs to her, always happy to see her. That first time, will always stand out the most, though. She remembers almost crying after scooping a toddling Vega into her arms and holding her tight, knowing that she was doing something right if her daughter was happy to see her even after a short trip out to the grocery store. Now that Vega is older, just starting third grade, Astra wonders how long she has left of excited greetings, but she doesn’t trouble herself with that now.

 

“ _Inah_ , how was school today?” Astra asks, walking into the apartment further to see Alex finishing up dinner.

 

“It was good _Ieiu_ , we had our times tables test today and I got it done before anyone else did. Then during reading time I finished the third Harry Potter book and Mommy had the fourth one all ready for me when I came home.” She bounced excitedly in Astra’s arms. “And Jenna invited me over for a sleepover this weekend, can I go?”

 

Astra looked over at Alex, communicating silently in that way that they had developed over the years. Vega had a good grip on her powers and they had no problem letting her go out with her friends and their parents, but she hadn’t stayed overnight anywhere just yet. She was starting to get that age, though, where sleepovers would be a very common event. They could wait a little longer, make sure that Vega was really ready to go, but that didn’t seem right. Vega was ready to go now. Both Alex and Astra nodded at each other.

 

“Sure, darling one, you can go. But I need Jenna’s mom’s phone number and address before this weekend, do you think you can get that for me?” Astra asked.

 

“Yeah, I can message her right now. Mommy can I have your phone?” She floated out of Astra’s arms and over to Alex who handed over the device and then she was typing away. “Oh, _Ieiu_ , we got assigned a project in class today to map out our family tree and bring in a story from each side of the family. I already asked Mommy and she helped me set up everything, but can you help me after dinner?”

 

Astra swallowed. That would be difficult considering she was from a different planet, keeping everything normal enough so that no one would look twice at her little girl. She hadn’t kept it a secret from Vega that she was from Krypton, she even told her little harmless stories that held more laughter than pain, but when Vega asked herself about Astra’s home planet, Astra couldn’t control what was dredged up and she almost always came away from the exchanges aching for home. She wouldn’t ever deny Vega the information, though.

 

“Yes, I can do that, darling one.”

 

“Cool.” The phone in Vega’s hand vibrated. “Oh, here’s Jenna’s address and stuff.”

 

Astra took the phone and memorized everything with a glance. “Good, now go wash up for dinner.”

 

“ _Ieiu_ uuuu, do I have to?” She whined.

 

“Yup, get to it munchkin,” Alex said, pushing the floating girl towards the kitchen doorway.

 

Astra set the table quickly and dished out a huge portion for herself, a smaller one for Alex, and a decent sized one for Vega. She inhaled the scent of basil and oregano and Italian sausage and smiled. Lasagna was always a good choice for them considering it was cheap to make and filling. Alex slipped beside her to finish up everything, laying a kiss on Astra’s cheek.

 

“Welcome home, babe.”

 

Astra smiles at her and kisses her cheek as well. “It’s good to be home.”

 

Dinner passes easily, and the table is cleared with the efficency of two super speedy Kryptonians and before Astra really knows it they’re sitting down with Vega’s project in front of them, pictures of Alex and Astra already pasted in along with Kara, Jeremiah, Eliza, and Hank. Astra isn’t sure what she’s going to do about pictures for her parents. There are none, not anymore. But she picks up a pencil and pulls the paper towards her and starts to draw her parents.

 

“Your grandparents’ names were In-Ze and Vora Das-Xen,” she starts slowly, keeping her eyes on her drawing. Her parents are not an easy subject. “They were both well respected on Krypton, not quite on the level of the House of El, but they were up there. Their marriage was arranged like most of Krypton, but I believe they grew close as the years passed. By the time my sister Alura and I were born you couldn’t really tell that they hadn’t married for love, at least not on Krypton.” She took a deep breath. “My mother was not…the easiest woman to impress. She was a member of the Religious guild and as such saw anything that wasn’t obviously touched by the will of Rao as beneath her. My father was a hard man as well. He was a member of the High Council and never much liked me because my birth had jeopardized that position.”

 

Astra finished one picture, that of her father, staring at her from the paper with the hard eyes she always remembered, frown on his face, in his Council robes. She wrote out “Inze Jackson” beneath the picture. The name fit him well enough she supposed. She moved on to her mother.

 

“Twins were almost unheard of on Krypton. The Council viewed Alura’s birth as normal but mine as an aberration, rather arbitrarily. I was born second, that was their reasoning. They questioned the genetics of my parents and if they hadn’t been fit, which then led them to question if my father was fit to lead. My mother viewed it as a bad omen from Rao himself. It was not easy to grow up in such a house.”

 

She looked up to meet Vega’s eyes. “I’m so glad you never have to live in a household like that, darling one. I’m so glad that your mother and I love you to the moon and back.” She reached out and moved a piece of hair from Vega’s eyes. They were serious, listening to everything her mother told her quietly, in a way beyond her years.

 

“The only bright spot was my sister, who believed none of that. And here is the story you may take to school with you.” She smiled slightly. “Since Alura and I were identical, from a very young age we realized that we could switch places without anyone knowing. We did it for years and years until we were thirteen years old or so when we were finally caught. My parents were actually going to take me out with them to meet with some family friends, but I didn’t want to go, I didn’t like the friends. Alura didn’t mind them and volunteered to go in my place if I completed the math homework that she had been told to stay behind and finish. I agreed because math was much better than those friends, for sure, and so my day was rather uneventful until my parents and sister got back and then there was yelling. I found out later after Alura had come back to our room that she had stomped on the foot of one of my father’s friend’s older boys because he had started to tease her by calling my sister stuck up and prissy and a know it all. Of course she didn’t take kindly to that considering he was making fun of her to her face and that’s when the foot stomping happened. And then she launched into a speech about how she wasn’t stuck up or pissy at all, and that was when my parents walked over to see what the commotion was about. They put two and two together and realized that Alura wasn’t me and then of course hauled her back home. Nothing really came of it, though, she was yelled at, we were told to stop switching places, and that was that.”

 

Of course they hadn’t stopped, but the next time they were caught wasn’t so innocent. She reached up and stroked her white streak that from that next incident, to make sure they could pull no more switches. She took a deep breath, the ache in her chest flaring, thinking about her sister.

 

She finished the picture of her mother and moved on to sketching one of Alura herself. “If your teacher asks why there are no pictures, tell her that everything was destroyed in a house fire, ok darling one?”

 

Vega nodded once before floating over and hugging Astra hard. “I’m sorry _Ieiu_.”

 

Astra hugged her back. “Oh, darling, I’m not, not really. It got me here. It got me to you. And given a chance I would do it again. Because I love you that much and I love Mommy that much.” She pulled back. “That isn’t to say that it wasn’t hard, but sometimes, the best things are the ones that you have to go through a great deal to get, do you understand?”

 

“I think so,” she said after a long moment’s thought. “But only sort of.”

 

Astra lips quirked up. “I think that’s how it should be for now. Someday, however, you will know, not just yet, though.” She finished up Alura’s portrait and wrote below it “Alura Zorel” beneath it and with that she slid paper away from her. “Now, why don’t we go start the third Harry Potter movie now that you’ve finished your homework?”

 

Vega smiled and nodded. “Ok, that sounds cool. I’ll go put it in.” She shot off without another thought.

 

Astra sighed and looked back at the family tree in front of her. She felt raw and exposed, but she hadn’t lied to Vega. She would go through it all again just to get here, even if the thought of everything that got her here made her shiver and ache. She placed another paper on top of her parents’ faces and stood up. She wouldn’t have to relive everything, though. This was her now and this was what was important. She got up and walked into the living room.


	19. Chapter 19

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Propmt: Do Astra and Alex ever go out for date nights when Vega is little?

They don’t go out super often, probably once a month. Alex is a disaster at planning dates, so it takes her about that long to get her shit together and plan something to do on the date, and what food they’re going to eat, and getting someone to babysit Vega, though honestly that’s the easiest part of the equation. She has so many friends and family willing to watch her daughter that they practically fight over it sometimes. Hank usually wins, but sometimes he’s off doing director stuff so she does actually have to check and make sure.

 

Astra on the other hand, is a closet romantic, so date planning isn’t exactly hard for her. And maybe her perusal of human media has helped a bit. Pintrest is a veritable fount of ideas if she’s stumped herself. But she’s a General, stumped doesn’t usually apply to her.

 

So between the two of them they trade off on date planning. One of the more memorable dates, it’s Astra’s turn to plan. She’s surfing the internet when she sees an advertisement for a couples surfing contest. Alex has told her about the days before she went to college that she used to surf all day long, that she almost went pro, and that she gave it up to be there for Kara instead. Astra knows that Alex misses it. She figures that a day at the beach won’t be a bad idea, throw in a competition where Alex can beat someone else and it’s a recipe for a good day. She makes all the arrangements that night and then spends the rest of the night watching surfing videos, because she has little idea of what surfing is, and maybe, just maybe she’s a little competitive too.

 

The day arrives and she drags Alex out to the beach at a god awfully early hour, for Alex anyway. She flies them both to the beach and sets them down just outside the crowded beach front. Alex looks around questioningly, but not surprised. Astra had asked her to put on a swimsuit after all so she figured water had to be involved in some way.

 

Astra just smiles at her and leads her to the surf shop she’d found on the internet. She’d bought a few things the day before and had them hold everything for her. Alex immediately goes to drool over some of the boards on display. Astra smiles at her and goes back to the owner. He recognizes her from the day before and hands over the package, two warm water wet suits, board wax, and a rental surfboard the man had assured her would work well for a relative beginner.

 

She gestures over her shoulder at Alex. “And whatever board she wants, I’ll buy it too.” She hands over her credit card and the man smiles. He’s by Alex’s side in a minute and they descend into shop talk that goes way over Astra’s head. She just wanders around the shop until Alex grabs a board and the man smiles and goes to ring her up.

 

Alex finds her after the transaction is done and hands back her card. “So, surfing?”

 

“Surfing,” Astra confirms. She unfolds a flyer she had picked up and hands it to Alex. “And maybe a bit of friendly competition?”

 

Alex takes the flyer and reads it and smiles like a shark on the hunt. “Oh, I think a friendly competition would clear the cobwebs right out of my surfing skills.”

 

The surfing competition doesn’t start until afternoon, so Alex and Astra both get in more than a few waves for practice before they take a lunch break. Astra brought enough sandwiches to feed an army, and after surfing, Alex almost eats as much as Astra does. It also helps that Astra makes a mean sandwich, with like fancy cheese and herb roasted chicken and chipotle mayo with spinach and arugula. Alex is in heaven, sun beating down on her, food in her hands, waves crashing near her, and salt water drying on her skin. She feels like she did back in high school, young and invincible, but this time she’s in love with the amazing woman beside her. The woman who planned this entire day just for them and had listened enough to know that this would be something that Alex would want again. God, she loves Astra. She leans over and rests her head, salt damp hair spreading out on Astra’s shoulder.

 

“I love you, you know that, right?” Alex asks, turning to kiss Astra’s neck.

 

“I had an idea,” Astra laughs. She lifts Alex’s head so that they can kiss for a long moment. “I love you too.”

 

The competition starts not long after they finish their picnic lunch. Alex pins the number to her wetsuit and immediately feels like deja vu is hitting her straight upside the head. She’s done this so many times. She can’t wait to do it again. She looks up at Astra, who’s still trying to figure out how to pin it on right. Alex smiles, she can’t wait for them to do it. She goes over and helps Astra pin it on straight. Because they’re going to rock this place to the ground and Alex knows it.

 

Their number is called near last. Alex surveyed those that went before, and she’s confident that they’ll do well. Top ten definitely, but it’ll be a fight for top three, which is honestly just how she likes it. Nothing is given to her in a competition, she likes to earn it and know she earned it. They both paddle out and Astra takes the first wave. Alex watches her pull some basic moves, nothing too flashy, but her form is perfect, how could it not be with superpowers? She almost feels a little guilty for that, almost.

 

She takes the next wave and it’s big and perfect and she shreds it, laughing all the while. She pulls moves from the back of her mind that she hasn’t done in years and she lands every single one of them. By the time she coasts to shore she’s so filled with adrenaline, her heart is pounding and she feels like she’s the one who can fly not Astra. On her run alone, she knows they’ll make the semi-finals. And she’s ecstatic.

 

The competition goes on. They get two more runs in which Astra gets more daring with her moves and Alex pulls out all the stops just because she’s having fun, the competition be damned now. Ok, well, maybe not all damned because having someone watch her surfing again is intoxicating in and of itself, but she would be having a ball anyway so, partly damned.

 

They make it into the finals and then the top five and then there’s a final run and Alex holds her breath as Astra pulls a basic flip and lands. It’s the most complicated thing she’s done all day and a little wobbly even with the flying superpowers, but Alex cheers nevertheless. When she goes she makes sure she leaves everything out on the waves and comes in to dive into Astra’s arms. Astra swings her around laughing before setting her down on the sand.

 

That night they show up back home with two wetsuits, a surfboard, board wax, and a first place trophy that Alex puts front and center in the living room. And since Vega is at Hank’s place for the night, well, there’s a hot shower and even hotter victory sex in the shower. Because champions deserve the best, of course.


	20. Chapter 20

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Alex's birds and the bees powerpoint for Vega.

Vega is nine when she comes home from school and asks Alex, “Mommy, what is sex?”

 

Alex internally is screaming a bit because oh god doesn’t every parent dread this exact talk? She’s definitely not looked forward to it, but it looks like now is the time to man up and be a parent and not scar her kid for life or anything. Sex is great, but damn the social stigma is hard to erase from her consciousness. But damn it she’ll make sure Vega doesn’t have her issues, at least as much as she can.

 

There’s one thing Alex knows well and knows has all the answers that Vega could need. Thank god she was a biology major and a medical doctor. She could do this. With science. There were small miracles after all.

 

“Um, can I answer that question after dinner, munchkin?” Alex asks.

 

Vega scowls. “Why?”

 

“Because I need some time to gather up some things.” Actually, she’s thinking about making an honest to god power point like it’s some sort of college project, not explaining to her nine year old where babies come from, but whatever, almost the same thing right?

 

God, why wasn’t Astra the one who got asked this question again? She’s a human disaster at the best of times some days and Astra is put together. Except in the mornings. And with human technology sometimes even now. And with some colloquialisms. And any time she was confronted with the fact that Vega was actually growing up right before their very eyes. Maybe it was better that Vega asked her because who knew how Astra would have taken it. She can see one of two ways, Astra being way too honest with a nine-year-old, or locking up demanding who told her about such things. Right. Definitely better that it was her.

 

So Alex goes and makes her power point. It’s full of anatomical models and instructional videos and a lot of pictures. Pictures were good right? Power points were made for pictures. Maybe if she just pretends this is a grad school presentation then everything will be fine. This is totally fine. Man, why hadn’t she thought of how they were going to answer this question before it happened? Why had she just ignored it? Better yet why hadn’t they just told Vega about sex when she was really little so it would have been completely normal to her already? And more importantly where is the shot of Jack when she needs one to steel herself for this?

 

She orders pizza that night for dinner, both to give her more time to work on her power point and to hopefully offset the fact that this is going to be the awkwardest thing that Vega has ever encountered in her short life. Carbs can fix most ills for a Kryptonian. They can also fix most ills for Alex, at least spiritually. Physically is sadly another matter.

 

The pizza comes and Vega tears through her pizza with vigor as usual. Alex eats a slice and a half before she’s done. She’s been on life or death missions before, but nothing scares her more than the thought that she might screw up her kid in the next hour just by panicking about a question she knew was going to come eventually.

 

Dinner ends when Vega is done with her food and Alex puts the rest in the fridge for Astra later. Then she goes back over to where Vega is on the couch, opens up her laptop and sets it up so that it projects onto the TV screen. She takes a deep breath and clicks open the power point. Now is not the time to be a train wreck, now is the time to be a collected mother who knows things. She can do this.

 

“So that question you asked earlier is actually a very important question. If you’re old enough to ask about it, then you’re old enough to know the answer.”

 

Vega nods, she’s heard Alex say that more than once in her life.

 

“So, sex is when two people like each other very much,” Alex literally cannot believe those words came out of her mouth. How cliche can she be? “Or, well, like sometimes doesn’t have anything to do with it. Sometimes it’s just because two people find the other really pretty and they have sex. It’s because of this concept called sexual attraction. People are biologically drawn to other people with features they find pleasing. It’s part of a series of things that helps someone find a mate that is the most genetically compatible with them so they can produce healthy offspring.” She flips to a slide that shows statistically attractive human faces and a little cartoon of DNA. “So like that girl on the screen is pretty and if she thinks the guy is pretty too they might have sex if they both agree and it might be a one time thing or they might have a relationship like your _Ieiu_  and I do.”

 

Alex pauses to take a breath because the idea is starting to dawn on her that maybe going about this in the scientific way might make this more awkward than it needs to be, but Alex Danvers isn’t a quitter so she forges on.

 

“Now, sex involves specific organs on a human body.” She flips the slide again and an anatomical picture of a penis and vagina show up. “For men, it’s the penis and for women the vagina, those are the main sexual organs, though sex can involve other things like the mouth and breasts and anus.”

 

It honestly goes downhill from there, but Alex braves it all like a captain going down with their ship. Vega, for her part, sits on the couch and cringes through the pictures and the videos and the diagrams that Alex had put together and starts to sink back into the couch like she just wants to be swallowed up by the padding, but she still listens at least. She’s a trooper, Alex will give her that. Especially after the clip of a woman giving birth. What was she thinking when she put that in here again? She wouldn’t be surprised if Vega vowed to never have sex after this. Oh god, she’d screwed the pooch on this one.

 

When it’s all over Vega sits there for a second staring at the dark screen for a second before turning to Alex. “Mommy, that was too much information.” And then she gets up and walks to her room calmly and closes the door.

 

“Yeah, kid, tell me about it,” Alex says quietly before closing her computer and going to get that shot of Jack she needed earlier.


	21. Chapter 21

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: How does Vega learn about/come to terms with Alex's mortality?

Vega, like most kids, doesn’t really have a grip on what death mortality is until she’s older. It doesn’t help that every time that Alex is hurt she brushes it off in front of Vega. Of course, there comes a time when she can’t brush it off and Vega’s old enough to really understand what’s going on.

 

Vega’s ten when James pulls her out of school. She knows something is immediately wrong when her teacher looks at her with sad eyes and says that there’s a family friend waiting for her in the office and to gather her things since she won’t be back for the rest of the day. Vega asks her why, but the teacher just shakes her head. A leaden feeling coats her stomach as she quickly gathers her stuff and almost sprints to the office.

 

James is there waiting for her and Vega runs to him and hugs him. “James, what’s going on?”

 

James kneels down next to her and looks her straight in the eye. “It’s your Mommy. She’s in the hospital. Something at her job didn’t go right today and she got hurt.”

 

Those words terrify Vega. She knows working for the DEO isn’t safe, not really, her mothers have given her a softer version of what they really do, but she’s not stupid. Stopping rogue aliens can’t be very safe.

 

“Is she gonna be ok?” Vega chokes out the words because if the answer is no, she doesn’t want the answer.

 

“They don’t know yet. Your _Ieiu_  sent me to get you and take you back to the DEO med bay when they took your Mommy back to surgery. That’s the last I’ve heard and no one has texted me anything different.” He takes Vega into his arms. “But I know one thing about your mother and that is that she’s a fighter. She will do anything to come back to you and your _Ieiu_.”

 

Vega sniffles, but she doesn’t cry. She holds that in and holds onto James like she’ll float away without him.

 

It takes a while to get to the DEO by car, but even by the time they get there Alex is still in surgery. Astra is a wreck. She pacing and pacing and looks an instant from snapping. When Vega gets there she hugs her daughter hard and then finally breaks. She sobs because she doesn’t know what she’ll do if Alex dies. She will go on without her of course, for their daughter, but.

 

Vega just holds onto her _Ieiu_  and sniffles some more, trying to be strong. Maybe if she’s strong throughout this her mommy will be fine. It’s such flawed thinking and a part of her knows it but she can’t help it. She just wants her Mommy to be ok.

 

It’s sixteen hours before Alex comes out of surgery. Almost everyone at the DEO has tried their hand at distracting Vega and Astra and Kara and later Eliza, but it only works for so long. They are all so worried. At different intervals Kara and Astra slip off to the training room to punch something just so they feel in control of something. Vega just sits and stares at the lead lined walls and hopes and hopes and hopes instead. She’s never really thought about her Mommy being something breakable. She is, Vega knew that, knew that she had to modify her strength when hugging and touching her Mommy, but that was different. That wasn’t this terrifying mass that sits in her throat choking her that reminds her that her mother is so much more mortal than her and _Ieiu_. How fragile are humans really? Is she in danger of dying every time she steps out the door? The questions terrify her.

 

When the doctor comes out after those sixteen hours, she’s exhausted visibly. Astra is in front of her before anyone can even call for her. Vega is at her side the next instant. She grips onto her _Ieiu_ ’s waist and holds her breath.

 

“She’s made it through and her vitals are already improving. The blasts went through her liver and thigh and upper shoulder. She lost a lot of blood from those wounds and whatever the blasters launched it cause a lot of peripheral damage that caused some internal bleeding. We found everything and sutured her wounds. It looks like her liver will regenerate in its own time and with the bleeding stopped she’ll be stable. Her shoulder and femur are broken, but we’ll operate on her in a few days when she’s stronger to fully set them. All in all, she’ll make it, but it will be rough here for a long while.” The doctor smiles wanly. “She’s going to be mad about being a desk jockey, but she’ll live.”

 

Vega blinks and now she finally cries. Oh thank god and thank Rao that her Mommy is going to be ok. Her _Ieiu_  picks her up and hugs her and says her thanks to the doctor. Astra holds her until Vega stops crying and then a little longer as Vega falls asleep after a too long day.

 

When Vega wakes up she’s home with Eliza in the kitchen making breakfast. Vega eats the food put in front of her knowing that Eliza won’t take her back to see her Mommy unless she eats.

 

“She’s awake today,” Eliza tells her. “Still on a lot of pain killers so she might not make much sense, but she’s awake and talking. They’re allowing two visitors at a time, well, more like one since Astra won’t leave her side understandably, so you can see her today.”

 

Vega nods. She wants to see her Mommy badly.

 

The trip to the DEO is even longer this time. The walk downstairs even longer than that. When she finally, finally gets into her Mommy’s room she sees her covered in bandages and wires and bruises and cuts and she’s terrified, but also there’s something else building and building inside her.

 

She marches up to her Mommy and looks at her with hard, glowing eyes. “You could have died!” It’s not quite a yell, but almost.

 

“Hey munchkin, I’m glad you’re here.” Alex smiles that drugged smile.

 

“No! You. Could. Have. Died!” She bites out again.

 

Rage is burning through her and she doesn’t know what to do with it except to yell.

 

Alex goes quiet for a long moment. “Yeah, I could have.” It’s a moment of lucidity under the morphine.

 

“Then why did you go?” Vega stomps her foot and cracks the tile.

 

“Because it’s my job. Because I have to protect people.”

 

“But what about me? If you died you couldn’t protect me.” Her hands curl into fists.

 

“I would have died protecting you from those aliens. They weren’t good guys, munchkin. And besides your _Ieiu_  would protect you.”

 

That broke something inside Vega again and then she’s lunging forward to grab her mother’s hand that isn’t covered in wires. “No! No, I need you both!” And she’s crying again and so, so scared that this is all a dream, that she’s fallen asleep in the waiting room and the doctor will come out and say that her mother didn’t make it.

 

“Vega.” Alex grabs onto Vega’s hand gently.

 

Vega looks up at her, vision still blurred by tears.

 

“Baby, I’m not going to stop doing what I do, but I promise you that every time I go out I make sure I do my damnedest to get back to you. I’m here now, munchkin, and I’m not going anywhere anytime soon.” She squeezes Vega’s hand again. “Especially not if the doctor has anything to say about it.” She smiles.

 

Vega sobs again but she nods. “Ok Mommy.”

 

“Good girl.”

 

And it takes a long time for Vega to stop checking on her Mommy, sending texts and listening for her heartbeat when she can, but Vega slowly but surely comes to terms with the fact that her Mommy is human, that she can die, that someday she will, and god that tears at her insides, but she can’t change that. Someone that her Mommy saves might be someone’s else’s parent and if she can’t imagine losing her Mommy, then she imagines neither can they, whoever they might be. She thinks, that maybe that’s what a hero really was, someone who went out with no guarantee that they would be ok, just so they could help others. And Vega thinks that maybe, someday, she might like to be like her Mommy and be a hero too.


	22. Chapter 22

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Do Astra and Vega ever try to plan a surprise birthday for Alex ?

Astra tries to plan a surprise birthday party on several occasions when Vega is younger. Except Vega is a babbly little girl and somehow the plans always came to light before the party’s date and the surprise party just turned into a party. It got to the point that Alex just laughed at Astra and said multiple times on different years “Better luck next year.” So Astra takes a few years off of the whole surprise party train and just plans something with Alex that usually involves a god awful amount of food, beer, whiskey, cake, and juice for Vega and inviting over a gathering of Alex’s friends from the DEO. Somehow those years always end in poker that somehow devolves into strip poker when everyone has way too much to drink. Astra almost always wins because she’s not drunk and Kara never plays because she’s too embarrassed to play. Alex, on the other hand, being the drunkest of all of them, almost always loses. The parties usually end quickly after that last round and Astra takes advantage of Alex’s rather unclothed state for some birthday sex. Alex doesn’t mind. She might even lose on purpose. She does know how to hold her liquor after all…

 

By the time Astra thinks to plan a surprise party Vega is actually old enough to understand that a secret means that she can’t tell Alex the second she walks in the door, which is about eleven for Vega. She really is an honest child. She reminds Astra of what Kara was like when she was the same age. It both makes her ache for the parts of Kara’s childhood she missed and thankful that she’s here for Vega.

 

Vega’s actually the one who approaches Astra about throwing a surprise party. It’s Alex’s fortieth birthday and Alex wants to pretend that it isn’t happening because forty?? Holy shit when did she get so old? Just yesterday she was drinking herself under the table in grad school. Yesterday damn it. So she hasn’t said anything about planning a birthday party, but Vega’s not about to let that slide.

 

“ _Ieiu_ ,” Vega says, on one of the days it’s Astra’s turn to pick her up from school. “Mommy needs a party.”

 

Astra turns to her, setting their things down at the door. “I agree, so what kind of party, darling one?” Astra’s curious about what Vega would pick.

 

“Not something ridiculous, but also something different. Her last few parties have been at home. We should do something elsewhere.”

 

Astra hums at that suggestion. Vega is right. Forty is a big milestone here on earth. From what she’s learned about human culture it’s a milestone that usually involves a lot of teasing, but that isn’t her style, nor Alex’s. She is sure enough people at the DEO will take care of that anyway.

 

“What do you suggest?” Astra asks.

 

Vega lights up and pulls out an entire folder of ideas. She’s clearly been thinking about this for a while. Astra’s heart melts a little bit at the thought that their little girl cares for them to go through so much trouble.

 

“Well, not anything super girly, so not a dance party probably. Melissa said her mom had one for one of her birthdays a few years back, but that’s not Mommy so.” She flips the page over and holds it up to Astra. “I think if we got a bunch of people to do this it would be fun. I think everyone at the DEO would be on board. Uncle Winn totally would too. And Aunt Kara and Carter. Not Cat though. And Mommy would get to pick her team because she’s the birthday girl.” She pulls out a brochure. “I looked at their website. They do birthday parties, everyone’s rentals are covered in the costs and you get a whole day to play. There’s even a package that includes cake and ice cream, but I think we should probably bring our own considering.”

 

Astra takes the brochure and she smiles. Oh. Oh this is perfect. Alex will love this. In fact, this would make a birthday present easy as pie to figure out. She admits, she was a little stumped before considering the only thing that Alex really ever wants is a bigger gun and a nice bottle of whiskey and after a while that becomes boring to fall back on, especially for Astra as her girlfriend. She should be more creative than others, or at least she feels so. But oh this. This is good.

 

The trick is to get Alex there without her suspecting anything. It’s easy enough, really. Astra asks Alex out to breakfast to celebrate her birthday in the quiet way she wanted and Alex agrees because why pass up food? Astra just smiles at Alex and leads her down to the motorcycle that Alex still has despite now having a reasonable family sedan too, and gets on. Alex is a bit insulted that she doesn’t get to drive her baby, but gets on behind Astra once Astra pouts a bit and says that they’re going to a new place and it would be easier to go if she drove. Alex mutters that she’s driving back as Astra starts the motor.

 

Astra drives them out of the city and to a suburb that actually has more green than concrete. Alex is obviously confused considering Astra can feel her head swiveling back and forth, but before she can shout a question to Astra, they’re there. And so is everyone else. As soon as the engine of the bike kicks off they all jump out from behidn their cars and yell “SUPRISE” and Alex definitely is surprised for once because damn how did they pull this one off?

 

Vega comes forward with a smile and a long box and hands it over to Alex. “Happy birthday mommy.”

 

Alex takes the gift from Vega and rips into it, still on the back of the bike, but honestly she’s still five when it comes to presents. Inside is a sleek, top of the line paintball gun and Alex practically drools over it because damn is it a peice of art. And she can’t fucking wait to use it. No wonder they ended up in the middle of nowhere. All the best paintballing courses were out of the city.

 

Alex looks back up at Vega. “I love it sweetie. Do I get to kick some ass with it today?” She already knows the answer from Vega’s hopping around.

 

“Yeah!”

 

Alex swings off the bike and looks at the crowd from the DEO plus Kara, James, Carter and oddly enough Cat who looks about as pleased as Alex herself is. “All right fuckers, who’s ready to get their ass kicked?” She hefts up her new gun with a smile.

 

A chorus of “No way, Danvers,” comes from the crowd, but Alex knows they know what’s about to happen.

 

They all go to get ready and Alex picks her team strategically. Astra of course, and Vega because two Kryptonians are better than one. Vega being as small and as quick as she is will be handy for flag stealing. Then there’s Vasquez because she’s the best shot the DEO has, Lucy because she’s right behind Vasquez on the score card, J’onn because he’s a fucking shapeshifter, Winn because if she doesn’t pick him he’ll pout, and then finally, Cat because the way she’s holding that paintball gun shows that she knows that the fuck she’s doing. And then the game is off.

 

Alex’s team wins. Not really just wins. They fucking slaughter the other team. Every single one of them is out by the time Alex lazily takes their flag and walks back to their base. They play another time with the same result. The teams get mixed up again just to make the next games a little more interesting, which they were interesting before with a field full of government trained operatives, but the games actually become a tighter race now. Alex’s team still wins every time as it should be.

 

By the time that they get around to cake and ice cream and the pot luck dinner that sort of happened more by accident than planning, everyone is sore from running and getting shot, but they’re all laughing and smiling and the losers are jostling the winners good naturedly.

 

Astra walks over to Vega who’s hanging out with Carter learning how to clean and reassemble a paintball gun and she smiles. “I think you picked well, darling one.” She looks over at Alex who’s glowing with happiness and triumph and sighs. Rao, how she loves her family.

 

Vega looks up at her with her own smile, the one thing that reminds her Non, but not in a painful way. It’s a reminder that Non was once something good too, as their daughter is so, so good. “Yeah, I think it went well. Is there any more cake left?”

 

Astra just laughs and hands over the last piece and ruffles Vega’s hair before walking back to Alex’s side.


	23. Chapter 23

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: What about Vega's first time to an amusement park?

National City has a fair amount of amusement parks around it, but Alex and Astra don’t really think about going until Vega comes home at twelve and begs and begs to go somewhere, she’s hoping Disney, really, but literally anywhere will do because all her friends have all these cool stories about going to the amusement parks and she just has to pretend that she’s done cool things too. Which she totally has, because duh, superhero parents, but like, she can’t tell her friends about that, now can she? Well, she could, but her moms would kill her. Honestly, a trip to an amusement park isn’t that much to ask is it?

 

Alex relents rather easily, because honestly, she loves amusement parks, she just really never has time to go. She thinks Astra will have fun, too, if she warns Astra of what’s going to happen beforehand so she doesn’t freak out, thinking something isn’t right. But the second she looks at the prices for Disney now she flat out has a heart attack. She’s still a government employee and the salaries definitely suck, so Disney, right out for now. She looks into Six Flags and Knotts Berry Farm and Universal Studios. Universal wins out because the season passes are fairly cheap for California residents and she figures she’ll win points with Vega by telling her that they can go back more than once. Also, she may, just may really, really want to go to Harry Potter World, but Vega doesn’t need to know that. She’s totally gonna buy Ravenclaw merch, though, and nothing will stop her.

 

The day they plan the trip for has Vega up early enough that she’s actually done with her bowl of cereal and dressed before Alex even thinks about stumbling to the kitchen. Astra’s out on her morning exercise run, or well, fly and hadn’t set the coffee timer to rouse Alex gently out of her sleep with the smell of caffeine. It’s a weekend for god’s sake why did anyone get up before noon? But then Vega is sliding a bowl of cereal in front of her and starting the coffee maker, already babbling about what they’re going to do in what order because she’s totally got the map memorized already. Alex just smiles and thinks that they’re going to have a hard time keeping up with the literal ball of energy in front of her. It’ll be worth it though, because Vega’s already so excited and happy she can’t imagine what the little girl is going to be like at the park. And making Vega happy is her highest priority, really. Though coffee, right now, is close second.

 

Astra arrives back home, kisses both of them and goes to shower quickly while Vega starts to get antsy. She makes a Kryptonian sized bowl of cereal for Astra as soon as she hears the shower door open and Astra is out to eat it before it even gets soggy. Living with speed demons sometimes has its perks, but this morning, not being able to finish her first cup of coffee before Vega drags them out the door isn’t one of them. Amusement parks have Starbucks, though, so she’ll be ok.

 

When they get to the park, Vega dashes ahead just like Alex thought she would, but at least it’s definitely at human speed. She calls after her to stay in sight, but other than that, she doesn’t stop Vega’s fun. If anyone tries anything with Vega, they would be in for a sore surprise anyway. It took at least some of the worrying out of parenting. Some. Not really much, but some. She’ll take what she can get.

 

Astra, for her part, is looking around and smiling softly.

 

“What?” Alex asks.

 

“It reminds me of fairs we used to have on Krypton, nothing so organized or permanent as this, but, the similarities are there. I used to love going as a child.”

 

“Yeah, well,” she nudges Astra with a hip, “our child seems to be taking after the both of us with how excited she is. You guys are going to eat me out of house and home in park food, aren’t you.”

 

Astra nods, not even the least bit sheepish. “I’ve seen signs for fried oreos already and I want some of those.”

 

“Of course you do. You’ll probably want one of those giant turkey legs too. And so many churros. I regret introducing you to those.”

 

Astra lights up. “They have those here?”

 

Oh god, she shouldn’t have opened her mouth.

 

Vega runs back up to them before Alex can dig herself into even more of a hole and pulls on their hands. “Come on, pleeeease,” she whines. “I want to go on Harry Potter and the Forbidden Journey.”

 

Astra and Alex just look at each other and share a “what can you do” expression, and follow Vega into the heart of the park. They stand in line for an hour and a half before they actually get onto the ride, but then Alex is being thrown into a delightful reminder of her younger years, reading the books and watching the movies, and every one of those ninety minutes was worth it. From the look on Astra’s face as they step off the conveyor belt, the pleased and slightly amazed look, it was worth it for her too. She really doesn’t have to wonder if Vega had a good time, not really. She’s already telling them.

 

When they get off and go into the gift shop, Vega is going on about how awesome it was, and looking over everything in the shop like she wants it. Alex sees a Ravenclaw sweatshirt that she definitely wants, and oh, there’s a matching Slytherin one for Astra and that’s perfect.

 

“Two things,” Alex says to Vega, who shoots off at the news that she can get something with a happy yell. Alex herself goes and gets the sweatshirts without hesitation and hands the Slytherin one to Astra. Astra looks down at the sweatshirt and rolls her eyes.

 

“I don’t see why I’m Slytherin. I’m a Ravenclaw like you.”

 

Alex shakes her head. “Nah, you’re smart, so smart, but Slytherin is…they’re the street smart ones. They’ll go to bat for the causes they want to bolster like rabid animals. But they also have self-preservation to know when backing out is a better idea. Tacticians may be Ravenclaws, but a good general, they’re a Slytherin. They have to be able to weigh tough decisions and make the right one despite loss of life. Ravenclaws, they’re book smart, they’re a little more capricious in their attentions because everything is interesting and why should only one thing hold their interests, and sometimes when they’re too deep into something they won’t let the idea go even if it’s foolish. When faced with a hard decision they’ll keep looking for the option where no one loses, even if it doesn’t exist.”

 

Astra considers that and then takes the sweater without protest. “Very well.”

 

Vega shows up a few minutes later, holding a Hufflepuff scarf and Gryffindor t-shirt. She’d always tested on the border of each house whenever she ventured onto the online tests, same as Alex tested on the borderline of Ravenclaw and Slytherin. Unlike Alex, though, Vega hadn’t picked a house, keeping close to both of them. Alex had to admit, the mixture suited her, so it worked well.

 

“All set, munchkin?” she asks.

 

Vega nods, handing the stuff over and Alex goes to pay for everything, not thinking about the total, because Jesus park merch is expensive, but in this case, well worth it.

 

By the end of the day, Vega’s dragged them to literally every single attraction. The locker they rented to store their stuff is full to the bursting, and Alex is dead on her feet. Astra and Vega, of course, are energizer bunnies and are eagerly talking about getting a late dinner at one of the restaurants right outside the park. How they can even think about food after all they’ve eaten, Alex knows the answer, but yet it still boggles her mind. So many churros. So. Many. Next time she’s making Astra fly home and grab their food from home instead of paying park prices, but for a day, she’s happy to bear the burden. This is one normal thing she can give Vega in a sea of things that are different for her. She realizes how hard that is on her daughter sometimes, even if she doesn’t say it. But now she’ll go to school with stories about her day and enough merch to sink a ship. Some days she doesn’t feel like she’s doing the best she can as a mother, but today, today isn’t one of those days. So she hikes the bags she’s carrying higher, and leads her two ever hungry Kryptonians to Taco Bell.


	24. Chapter 24

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Do Alex and Astra ever get married?

They never get married in the traditional sense, no. Astra doesn’t exactly have the best of memories of her last marriage, and perhaps there’s a lingering bit of cultural learning that whispers that a marriage is for life, even if it is not wanted or the other party is deceased, or in Astra’s case, both. Alex, well, Alex has never been the marrying type either. When she was little she imagined it, but it was never a solid image like it was for some of the other girls who planned it down the color of the icing on the cake. It’s probably because she was always trying to picture a man meeting her at the alter, but still. She thought about the idea idly after five or six years of her and Astra being together, but the ideas remain just that, ideas.

 

That doesn’t mean that they didn’t have their own version of a commitment ceremony, just that it was different and not legally binding and all their own and no one else’s. It happens on their first international family vacation when Vega’s fifteen. They slip off to Cat’s villa in St. Barts just after Christmas with the family and spend over a week there. It was a bitch and a half to get Astra a passport to go, but the DEO pulled through eventually, for which Alex is thankful. They need some time away as a family. The beaches and the sun in the middle of winter don’t hurt either.

 

Cat’s villa, of course, is secluded, and so long as Vega and Astra don’t stray too far away, they can be themselves, powers and all. There’s something about being nearer to the equator that makes their powers just a bit stronger and Alex knows she’s going to have to cough up a decent amount of money to replace a sterling silver set of cutlery. Or more like Astra will since she was the one who bent half the spoons in the set in half on accident. She set them right of course, they just didn’t look quite right afterwards. Alex just rolls her eyes at Astra but doesn’t say a word. Within the day Astra and Vega are back to regular operating levels of strength and their day goes on.

 

Vega has a blast exploring the island and the beach and learning how to surf with a tutor that Cat set up for them as a present and to get Vega out of the house for long stretches of time. Alex remembers the wink Cat shot their way at that and she sort of wants to scrub it from her brain at the same time as thank the woman because they had used the alone time. But. Her sister’s wife. Ew. She does not want to think about how Cat knows that particular trick.

 

It’s on one of these times where Vega is off elsewhere having fun while still checking in every half hour like instructed, that Alex and Astra walk along the beach as the sun begins to set. It’s quiet. The island isn’t so crowded in the off season, plus they’re half a mile from the nearest villa on both sides. Astra is holding Alex’s hand and smiling, the most relaxed that Alex has ever seen her. Alex doesn’t know if there’s anything more beautiful than Astra when she is truly and completely relaxed.

 

She pulls them to a stop because she knows that this is the perfect time to give Astra the one gift she had held back at Christmas because it didn’t seem like the right time. Now, though, now seems like the time. She pulls out the velvet box and hands it to Astra.

 

“So I got you something obviously. I was waiting for the right time to give it to you, but I think now is the perfect time. Astra, I love you so much, to the moon and back and further. I want to spend the rest of my life with you and I wanted to give you something to show that. I know we’re both not ones for marrying, not again, but there’s no way in hell we don’t have the commitment. So, I had this made.

 

Astra opens the box and inside is a ring, but it’s not an engagement ring. The top is flat with the crest of Ze carved into it. She lifts the ring up, stroking her house crest and catches that there’s something engraved in the band. She lifts it up to the dying light of day and sees the words “Forever Faithful.” Just like the house of El’s crest meant stronger together, the house of Ze’s crest meant forever faithful. Astra had never really talked about it, but Alex had talked to Kara and figured it out when she had first been brainstorming for gifts. Forever faithful was too good to pass up and thus the ring had come into being.

 

“It’s made out of an alloy so strong that not even Kara can bend it or scratch it or dent it. You can wear it whenever you want.”

 

Astra slipped the ring on with quiet reverence. It fit perfectly and Alex sighed in relief. She’d been a bit worried even though she’d measured a thousand times.

 

“Alexandra. I can’t even begin to express how much this means to me.” She looks up to Alex and there are happy tears in her eyes. She draws Alex into a hug that lasts a long, long time before pulling back. “I admit, I have something for you as well. I, however, didn’t have the foresight to bring it on this walk. Give me just one moment.” And Astra zips off to the house before Alex can blink.

 

Astra comes back with a slightly bigger box, but it’s still velvet and definitely a jewelry box. “I wanted to get something that symbolized the last fifteen years that we’ve been through, but also our future as well, because I too, want to spend the rest of my life with you, Alexandra Danvers. I promise you this.”

 

Alex opens the box and there’s a simple necklace inside on a thin chain. There are three charms all small and elegant and too beautiful to believe. Alex has to look closer before she sees a little spaceship in the first charm. She chokes up remembering finding Vega and then Astra in their pods and how that had started all of this. She looks at the second and there’s the Kryptonian characters that make up In-Ze Danvers in tiny font. She recognizes the writing. Astra had done it herself. Her eyes water enough that it takes a second to make out the last charm. She lets out a little happy sob, remembering the first night she had told Astra about the pheonix tattoo on her upper thigh. It had been a college mistake, but a happy one. Pheonix’s rose from the ashes to fight another day. Pheonix’s meant forever to her. Astra had listened. Aster thought that they were forever.

 

She drew the necklace out of the box and put it on immediately, the metal feeling right around her neck.

 

“It’s also made of titanium. Baring something catatrosphic nothing will break it.” Astra smiles. “We do live rather rough lives, brave one. It pays to be prepared.”

 

Alex laughs at that and jumps into Astra’s arms. She kisses her long and hard. “Yeah, it does. And being prepared for forever doesn’t seem like a bad plan.”

 

Astra smiles. “No, I don’t think so.”


	25. Chapter 25

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Vega talks to Cat about possibly being in love/having sex/relationships. She feels too awkward talking to her moms about it because even though she knows they love her, she's a teen. What fucking teen wants to tell their parents they want to have sex. Especially when one is a scientist. (Is still desperate to get the presentation of "where babies come from" out of her head) And Kara can't keep her trap shut. So. She goes to Cat. Cat won't tattle.

Vega’s fifteen and in the middle of her sophomore year in high school when her thoughts turn back to relationships and sex. People around her are starting to actually get into the relationship game more seriously now. It’s not the giggling ridiculous two days on before calling it quits thing that it was in middle school. She sees all these people joining up and being happy together and while she thinks she’s not ready for it now, she wants to know more about it.

 

There’s only one problem with knowing more, she has no idea who to ask. She could just Google everything she wants to know, it’s not like the internet wouldn’t have the answers she’s looking for, but she would have to weed through a lot of bad advice and just plain fake stories for the truth. Since she has no real clue, that seems like it might do more harm than good. Which leaves asking someone around her for advice.

 

The first and obvious choice would be her parents, but god, she’s still cringing over that power point her Mom had showed her when she was little and her _Ieiu_ ’s knowledge comes mostly from Krypton, which had sexual mores even more archaic than Earth’s so she’s not sure how far she’d get there. And while her Mom flails around sometimes and just plain screws up her _Ieiu_  is the one that’s more likely to freak out in a more…interesting way, so they’re definitely off the table for reasons other than the fact that who in the world wants to talk to their parents about this stuff anyway.

 

The next is one of her honorary aunts and uncles. Winn is a no because he’s about as awkward as they come, though he did eventually manage to find a nice girl just as nerdy as him, and Vega really does like Lyra, but that was definitely luck on his part and not knowledge. James is a possibility, but while he’s the one who always listens when she needs to talk there’s just something about this that Vega thinks wouldn’t work out. Lucy is the best candidate, but Vega isn’t sure that whatever she says wouldn’t eventually make it back to her Mom, if only by accident. Working at the DEO is stressful and she knows things can slip under those conditions. If she can’t think of anyone else, though, Lucy will be who she goes to. Kara’s never on the table because she’ll tell Vega’s Mom everything out of some worried aunt/sisterly duty.

 

But the thought of Kara brings about the thought of Cat. Cat knows pretty much everything and Vega knows that the woman can be trusted with secrets. There are more than a few accidents that she got into with Carter when they were younger that Cat had never told her mothers about because Cat knew her mothers would freak out more than warranted. Not that Cat hadn’t sat them down and explained why what they had done was dangerous and not to do it again, but it had been calm and reasoned, and honestly made Vega feel bad about what they’d done because Cat was disappointed that they weren’t more careful and had stopped her from doing it again more effectively than any rant from her mothers would have. So Cat would give her any answers she wanted and wouldn’t sugar coat them, which, right now, when high school is more than a little confusing with everything, is kind of what Vega wants.

 

Vega texts Cat late enough one night that she’s sure the other woman is home from the office. “Hey, Cat, can I ask you a few questions? Um, about relationships?” She agonizes over the words for a long time before just hitting send and hoping.

 

Cat messages back with all her usual efficiency with a “Come over, there’s an abundance of tacos since Kara is off fighting the villain of the week. The balcony is unlocked.”

 

Vega quickly changes into the all black outfit that her Mom had mandated every time she went out flying. Once she’d hit high school they’d started to allow her to use her powers sparingly provided Vega followed the rules they set. Flying meant all black and a black face mask so no one could figure out who she was. Honestly, in another couple years when she stopped growing and finished filling out Vega thought that the mask wouldn’t be necessary. She looked so much like her _Ieiu_  that people would just assume Vega was her. But that wasn’t now. And so she slips out of the door after shouting down the hall that she’s going to Aunt Kara’s for a little bit and getting the shouted back ok from her Mom who actually isn’t on whatever mission that Kara is right at the moment.

 

Cat’s penthouse is one of the many places that feels like a second home. Vega steps in and goes straight to the kitchen where Cat is plating up what is a really massive quantity of tacos. Vega’s mouth waters. God, she really loves tacos.

 

“Hi,” Vega says, slipping onto the stool by the island.

 

Cat shoves the plate of tacos at Vega. “Hello.” She grabs a plate for herself and then grabs them both bottles of water before sitting next to Vega. “So, relationships.” She’s never been one to beat around the bush.

 

Vega picks up a taco to stall for a second, gathering her thoughts. “Uh, yeah, I guess I just…I’m kind of confused. And I think I want one, but like, not right now, and I don’t even know who I would be with, but.” She shrugs.

 

Cat hums. “High school is confusing like that, most definitely.” She laughs, a bit bitter. “Especially when you’re attracted to other girls in an era that isn’t very friendly to such inclinations, but at least this day and age is a little better. A little. Is there anything specific you want to know?”

 

“I don’t know. I don’t think I know enough. Like. I got the whole where babies come from talk from Mom and I just…never again Cat, never again, there was a power point.” Vega stuffs the taco in her face and chews, hoping that the taste soothes the cringing that her soul is doing. It does somewhat.

 

Cat chuckles at that. “That does sound like your mother.” She takes a bite of her taco thoughtfully. “I think the most important thing to know is that there’s no real right way to have a relationship and that you don’t have to be ready when everyone else is. You can take your time and when you’re ready you can venture into the dating world. No one gets to decide for you.”

 

Something in Vega does relax at that. She needed to hear that. She didn’t even know she did, but Cat had.

 

“What is it like, being in a relationship?” Vega asks.

 

“It depends on the other person you’re with. With Kara it is warm and safe but there’s sparks of excitement. With other people I’ve been with it’s been thrilling like a rollercoaster ride or calm and serene like a lake without a breeze. They were all good for a while for me, but I found that I couldn’t be all excitement or all lazy and relaxed without eventually burning out. For you it could be different. And it won’t always feel great because every couple has disagreements, but as a whole it should be good. If it isn’t, then that’s a sign to leave. You have to support your partner and they have support you back for it to be worthwhile.”

 

Vega nods at that. That…it makes sense to her in a way that nothing has before about all of this.

 

“How do you know if you’re even interested in someone like that?” Vega’s had so many problems trying to figure out what were romantic feelings versus just straight platonic. Or more what she wanted to be romantic feelings that just weren’t.

 

“That’s something else that will be different from person to person. But I can tell you what it feels like for me. It’s, it takes a while for a person to catch my attention like that because I need to feel as if they are my match before I’m ever interested in them. When I finally do see them in that light it’s, there’s this warmth that sits at the bottom of my spine and it radiates outward. It feels like I’m being lit up from the inside. And sometimes that goes nowhere, but when it does, well, sometimes there’s sweaty palms and a thundering heart and maybe a bit of trouble breathing, but I’ll never admit to such cliche symptoms. In all cases, I think you always want to be closer with that person no matter what.”

 

Vega eats in silence with that information for a while. This is helping, she thinks, but it’s all still so vague, but maybe that’s just the way it is. There’s no exact science to it, but there are some ground rules that everything branched off of. She was only going to know the ground rules until she actually went out and dated herself.

 

“What about guys versus girls?” She looked away for a second. Vega hadn’t been able to figure that out either. She knew that she found both pretty to look at, that was about it.

 

“Both are good, at least for me. I didn’t stop being bisexual when I married Kara, nor did she when she married me. We just stopped looking. That’s just another thing that no one can tell you how to feel. If you like boys only fine, girls, ok, both, more the merrier.” Cat snorted. “Though if you want my opinion, at least women can find the damn clit.” She took her empty plate and stood walking over to the sink.

 

Vega blinked at that for a second, blushing. Well, she supposed that did lead into her next question. “And sex?”

 

“Sex is…” Cat sighed. “You know I’m not giving you a lot of definite answers here, but it also depends. Sometimes you go out and have a one night stand and it’s good, sometimes you’re in a relationship and it’s terrible. In the right circumstances it’s an experience on another level. You’re joining with the other person and giving and receiving pleasure in the most intimate way possible. It’s a connection that can’t be denied. Bad sex, is one of the most awkward things that will ever happen to you. Then there’s sex that’s just normal. It’s good but it isn’t anything to write home about. And if you don’t want it, that is always fine too. There are other aspects of relationships that are just as fulfilling.”

 

Cat starts to clean up dinner as Vega finishes up her last taco. “I think everything about relationships and sex boils down to don’t force yourself into something before you’re ready, and when you are ready, be safe about it. And if you have any questions along the way feel free to talk to someone, to talk to me again. God knows I have enough relationship experience it might as well get some use somewhere.” She turns to smile at Vega. “Some of the stories.” She laughs.

 

Vega smiles at her before getting up and starting to help Cat clean. Somewhere her mothers and preening because look at their daughter and her proper manners. She feels a little less confused now, and more sure that this isn’t something she’s quite ready for yet. So her peers can continue on their way with all the dating and drama that comes with it. She can wait for the good aspects of dating until she’s sure, even if she wouldn’t mind companionship now.

 

“Thank you,” Vega says, as the last of the dishes is slipped back into the cabinets.

 

Cat just lays a hand on her shoulder and squeezes. “Of course, darling. Any time, I mean it.” 


	26. Chapter 26

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Does Vega ever hang out with Winn, James, or Lucy? What are they like with her?

Vega attends literally every game night from birth until she goes off to college and then she goes when she’s home on breaks too. The Supersquad all love her. Though Winn was totally useless when she was a baby because the man literally cannot change a diaper right despite multiple people showing him how and a genius level intellect. They’re the crazy honorary aunt and uncles that pop up in every family, really.

 

Winn is the uncle that teaches Vega anything and everything nerdy. Like Alex of course is a science nerd, but Winn is next level. He starts playing video games with Vega when she’s barely old enough to hold the controller and the games are all Mario based kid appropriate fair. Which means that by the time Vega is in elementary school she kicks everyone else’s ass at Mario Kart and everyone just sort of sits back like HOW afterward every single time while Vega giggles and asks to play again. Winn reloads everything for her the next second, tickling her side and saying he’s gonna beat her this time for sure. Later when Vega can read he starts teaching her all sorts of nerdy board games, Settlers of Catan, Dungeon and Dragons, the whole nine yards. With two strategists for mothers Vega gets really good at those games too and if a game calls for teams he always makes sure he’s on Vega’s side. They even have a team name, which is rather uncreatively called team Vega Winns, but it’s cute nonetheless. Then there are all the great TV shows he introduces her too, the Original Star Trek and all its derivatives, Dr. Who,The X-Files, Legend of the Seeker, Firefly, Buffy, everything a budding geek needs to watch. Vega’s freaked out about some of the stuff on Buffy and The X-Files, and Winn gets an earful for it, but he doesn’t stop the TV marathons, he just switches to covering Vega’s eyes at the scary parts and it works out just fine in the end. Just as she’s about to start elementary school Vega walks over to see him coding something, a little flash game he’s been working on in his free time, and Vega asks him what he’s doing. That leads to Winn discussing the finer points of coding with a five-year-old sitting on his lap as he types and narrates what he’s doing. It starts something, that first little session, and Vega learns to code in four different languages by high school. She ends up winning a bunch of different coding contests and Winn is there to take her out for ice cream afterward. He cries a little bit when Vega tells everyone she’s going to college for computer science. He’s basically the nerdy male version of the cool aunt stereotype and he wouldn’t have it any other way.

 

Lucy, on the other hand, is just the cool aunt, no nerdy about it. Lucy Lane is practically flawless after all. She’s the one who’s always bringing Vega little presents, books usually, because Vega loves books, but also little toys, and of course lots and lots of food. It’s the quickest way to the heart of Kryptonian after all. She takes Vega out on little play dates when she’s younger, to the park, the zoo, museums, the circus, anything she thinks Vega will like to go to. She almost has a heart attack when Vega decides she wants a closer look at the lions, though. That little incident required her to call Kara to come and grab her niece as soon as possible before Vega even made it down to the ground. Kara had, but people were a little miffed at Supergirl for shattering windows from the sonic boom that resulted. When Vega is older their trips also include shopping and spa days because Alex is definitely not that type of woman and the only thing she wears half the time is her DEO polo and cargo pants. Astra is an alien and has no concept of fashion at all other than putting on a t-shirt and jeans because that’s comfortable and she can freely move it in. And Kara, dear Kara, dresses a bit like a cutesy old lady. So Lucy becomes Vega’s fashion guru. The weeks before prom in Vega’s senior year Lucy takes Vega to the best dress boutique she knows and spends hours with her there to find the perfect dress for her. Of course, she snaps pictures to send Alex and Astra later, but she has a feeling that Alex is relieved that she isn’t there because spending hours in one place isn’t her strong suit if it isn’t a stakeout, let alone spending hours in a dress shop. Lucy thinks that Astra would be here if she could but she’s on super duty while Kara’s gone on a business trip with Cat. Lucy isn’t sure how much business is being done on that trip to Tahiti, but Kara taking a week off isn’t something she begrudges. When Vega finds the perfect one, Lucy gasps and almost drops her phone. Vega has always been a beautiful girl, she looks too much like her mother not to be striking, but my god, that dress on her makes her practically glow.

 

“That’s it, that’s the one.” It’s deep green with a sleekly flowing skirt and the top looks like something straight out of a Greek play.

 

Vega goes to the mirror and looks at herself from all different angles. “You think so?”

 

Lucy nods and steps beside her. “No one in the room will be able to look away from you.”

 

Lucy puts the dress on her credit card without a thought. Vega deserves the dress no matter the price. On the day before prom Lucy treats Vega to a mani-pedi and then the day of there’s a trip to the salon for Vega’s usually unruly but gorgeous mass of curls and then she helps Vega with her makeup. At the end of it after all the pictures that the Superfam can take are done Vega hugs Lucy hard and thanks her quietly. Sometimes Vega doesn’t feel normal, the product of being a literal alien on Earth, but Lucy made her feel like a normal girl getting ready for prom. She’s really always made Vega feel normal, which is the best thing Vega could have ever asked for in an aunt, really.

 

James is the calmest and most reasonable of the lot, usually. He’s the one that gets tasked with babysitting Vega if Hank and Kara are busy. The fact that he’s dealt with his fair share of Kryptonians is definitely why he gets that duty, but his little emergency button for Clark doesn’t hurt either. He never minds, though, because he loves Vega. He’s the one that gives Vega piggybacks around the apartment and swoops her like an airplane before she can fly. He’s the one who always, always listens to Vega, even when she’s little and just babbling out whatever thought comes into her head. When she’s older James is the one Vega calls when she’s upset with one of her moms. He listens like he always does and that calms her down more than anything, but he also has advice for what to do going forward and that helps too. Vega calls him after the biggest fight she’s ever had with her Mom. It was a shouting match that had the neighbors banging on the walls and floors, it was that bad. Vega doesn’t even remember what started it because one second they were talking about her future plans, looking forward a couple years to college and all the applications and what she might want to do and where was best to go based on that, and then it was a knock down drag out fight. Vega flies out of the house like a whirlwind after the last word has been said and doesn’t stop until she’s sitting on a beach somewhere twenty miles from anything it seems. Miraculously she still has cell service wherever she is and so she calls James. He picks up on the second ring like always and before hello is even half out of his mouth Vega is talking, telling him everything that just happened and that she doesn’t understand. When she’s done he only has one question for her.

 

“What exactly did you say right before the fight started?” He asks calmly.

 

It’s hard for Vega even to remember now after all the emotion, but she concentrates and remembers. “I think I said something about maybe taking up with the DEO on the side like Aunt Kara does when I’m done with college.”

 

He hums for a second and goes on. “That was it then. That was why the fight started. You should have seen how mad Alex was when Kara started out as Supergirl, it wasn’t pretty. And that was her sister, not her daughter. I think her reaction might be a bit worse in that situation, as you saw.”

 

“But why?” Vega almost whines, listening to the waves crashing on the beach and trying to calm her racing heart.

 

“Because she’s afraid of you getting hurt. Probably more like terrified. That doesn’t mean that yelling at you was right, though.”

 

Vega thinks about that for a while as the sun begins to set around her. “Yeah,” is all she says when she finally speaks again. The conversation goes on from there slowly. James tells her of the risks of being a superhero that her Mom has seen that maybe she hasn’t, or wasn’t old enough to know about, and Vega just explaining her frustration at all of that and the fact that her Mom didn’t actually, you know, just say that. By the time the call is over Vega is so tired that it takes some real effort to fly home and James is on his third cup of coffee for the night just to stay awake, but he got Vega to go home and be safe and that’s what really matters. He’s basically just the big teddy bear Uncle who helps out with everything when he can


	27. Chapter 27

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Who teaches Vega to drive?

Alex gives no choice to the decision of who is going to teach Vega to drive. Astra drives like a madwoman, but Alex doesn’t know what she expected from an ex-military operative.Vega’s kind of glad she doesn’t have to choose one parent or the other, because honestly she would have chosen her Mom over her _Ieiu_  because she’s been scared out of her mind sometimes when she’s riding with her alien mother and that was just going to the grocery store. Vega knows enough to realize that that definitely won’t make her a good driver if she learns from her _Ieiu_. Though maybe later after she’s mastered all of the basics. Driving like a bat out of hell might be useful in certain situations, and with her family certain situations popped up a lot.

                      

The first day they drive Vega to the DMV, Astra is grumpy that she was completely overruled, but she wouldn’t miss her little girl getting her permit because she understands that it is a big step in development on Earth. But honestly. She can drive just fine. Why is everyone so hell bent against letting her teach her daughter?

 

“We can fly for Rao’s sake, why do we even need to be able to drive well,” Astra mumbles to herself. “We’re indestructible. What is one car accident now and again.”

 

Alex just looks at Astra with a ‘really?’ look on her face. Vega snorts in the background, hearing her _Ieiu_ ’s rumblings clearly. It’s kind of adorable that her _Ieiu_  wants to be involved in teaching her that much. But not adorable enough that Vega was going to throw her a bone and let her teach a few lessons. She was still sane.

 

Besides creative grumbling, that first trip to the DMV went off smoothly enough. There wasn’t a giant line, thank the gods, and Vega passed her test the first time. She walks out with a small rectangular piece of plastic that’s bright red and has a kind of terrible picture on it, but at least she’s got her permit and nothing had to go crashing to the ground or exploded during the process.

 

Except that’s when the mayhem actually starts. Vega gets in the driver’s seat of their family sedan out in the middle of nowhere on the road to the DEO. Alex assures her that this is the perfect place to start learning because there’s nothing she can hit and there’s absolutely no traffic except when it’s shift change, which is hours off now. Alex goes over the parts of the car for a good half an hour before she actually gets in the passenger’s seat and lets Vega actually shift the car into drive. She manages to keep the car going steady, if a little slowly because it’s just occurring to Vega that while she wouldn’t be hurt by a crash, her mother would, and anyone else she might hit. It’s a lot of responsibility. She knows she’ll get used to it, but for right now, slow is ok.

 

Until there’s an alien shooting out of the sky towards them, or more probably the DEO.  But once whoever it is spots them, they change course. Alex curses, Vega slams the brakes on the car, throws it into park, and is out of the car in a second while her mother calls for back up. She floats off the ground, ready for the attack, but her Mom shoots her laser gun at the alien, hitting him dead on, and he crashes to the ground before he reaches Vega. Vega flies out and kicks at the alien to make sure he’s actually alive, which he is, just curled up in pain because lasers aren’t exactly the least painful thing to be hit with. Her Mom comes with a pair of reinforced DEO handcuffs and drags the alien back to the backseat of their car.

 

“Come on, you can drive us back to base for more practice,” Alex says.

 

Vega just looks at her in disbelief. “You’re kidding me, Mom.”

 

“I mean, why not. Practice is practice.”

 

Vega shakes her head. She officially lives in the weirdest family on the planet. She does what her mom says and drives them back though. She even manages to get above thirty miles an hour too. It’s the little victories.

 

The next driving lesson, this time on the less busy streets of National City, Vega feels a bit more anxious because oh god other cars are near her now? How is she supposed to deal with that? But Alex talks her through merging and lane changes and stop signs and stop lights calmly and effectively and they make it to the grocery store that Alex put as their destination in one piece. Alex let her pick out three gallons of ice cream to celebrate that she made it, along with all the rest of the food they needed to get. Vega wondered sometimes if they kept the local stores in business just from how much they bought alone. Probably not, but still.

 

They’re loading everything in the car when Alex’s DEO earbud fires up and Kara’s voice is calling out over it. “Alex! I’m going to need some help here. Alien hostile at 34th and Fig.”

 

Alex grabs all the rest of the bags and shoves them in the car. “Come on, that’s six blocks away. You’re driving me there and then you’re going straight home, you understand me?”

 

Vega’s eyes widen. “Why am I driving you there?”

 

“So I can shoot if I need to.” She pulls her laser gun from her shoulder holster. Of course she still had it with her even when she was shopping. That was her Mom after all.

 

Vega got into the front seat and follows her Mom’s directions to an intersection that has definitely been torn up. The rest of the DEO is on its way, but Alex is first on the scene. She hops out of the car.

 

“Go home!” She yells over her shoulder.

 

Aunt Kara crashes to the ground ten feet in front of the car and Vega gasps. Oh boy, this whole driving thing was turning into a train wreck. She lets off of the brake and slowly drives home. She makes it in one piece there too, carries up all the groceries, and then eats the three gallons of ice cream in worry, waiting for her mothers to get home, which they do, also in one piece.

 

And somehow every single time she goes out to have a driving lesson something happens. It’s not an alien all the time, no sometimes it’s car crashes right in front of them, or a robbery, or kidnapping, or assault, or any one of a thousand things that goes wrong in a city that her Aunt Kara takes care of on a regular basis and that Alex helps her out with. Vega gets really, really good and driving quickly to get her mom where she needs to go to help out. Honestly, by the time she actually gets her license and has to remind herself during the test that she’s not driving her Mom to the nearest crime scene during the test, it occurs to her, that maybe learning with her _Ieiu_  probably would have resulted in the same outcome as she’s in now. She laughs at that and the guy from the DMV who’s testing her looks at her like she’s a bit crazy.

 

“Sorry, my moms just argued over who was going to teach me, and now that I think about it, I think my driving style would have turned out the same no matter who taught me.”

 

The man makes an acknowledging noise, but says nothing else. Vega just shrugs it off an goes back to being amused.

 

She passes that test too and gets her license. Maybe now that she doesn’t have to drive with her Mom in the front seat she’ll actually get to drive around like a normal human being and go to the mall with her friends instead of driving like she’s already in the DEO or something.

 

With her family, it’s probably not that likely.


	28. Chapter 28

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Vega's first date? How does Astra react? How does Alex react?

Vega is slow to date, she watches her friends go on their first “dates” at thirteen/fourteen and she just waves them off with a smile. Her first date is the summer before she goes off to college. It’s a non-binary person named Ash who Vega met at her summer job as a barista near her mothers’ apartment. Vega’s already half in love with Ash because they’re that cooler, slightly older person with a bit of life experience under their belt, and well, attractive, there’s no harm in admitting that. She’s a little nervous to admit to her mothers though that she’s going on a date. They are two government agents and her _Ieiu_  has literally superpowers and used to be an alien general. If there’s anyone in the world who can scare off a potential date, it would be them.

 

So Vega introduces the idea in steps. She tells them about Ash, how they’re really nice and helped Vega learn the ropes at the coffee shop, how they’re a great person with interesting things to say about the world, how they make Vega laugh, the vague suggestion that she might have feelings for them. It takes about a week, but then she drops the bomb that Ash asked her out and Astra and Alex just look at each other and smile.

 

“We wondered when you were going to tell us, darling one,” Astra says.

 

“Yeah, munchkin, even if we hadn’t known it’s been obvious since about day two that you totally had a crush on this kid.”

 

Vega wants to object that Ash isn’t a kid, but then she remembers that Mom is thirty years older than her and _Ieiu_  is even older than that with the twenty-four years in the Phantom Zone tacked on to her age. Everyone below the age of like forty probably seemed like a kid to them in some way or another. She was beginning to know enough now to realize that she herself definitely was still a kid even at eighteen.

 

So she just settles for being indignant about the other parts of what her Mom said. “I wasn’t that obvious Mom.”

 

Both her mothers laugh and Vega rolls her eyes. “Whatever, I was trying to give off the hints anyway.” Something clicks in her mind. “Wait, you knew? How did you know?”

 

“We are government agents, darling one,” Astra says, cocking an eyebrow. “We do have our ways.”

 

“And one of us has superpowers too to boot.” Alex shrugs. “Helps out a lot. Pretty much why you never got away with anything as a kid. Or didn’t get away with anything we didn’t let you get away with, anyway.”

 

Vega frowns and files that bit of information away for later. She hadn’t gotten away with anything? Really? She could believe it on some levels but others? But that wasn’t the point right now.

 

“So obviously if you’ve known and haven’t said anything, you’re ok with it?” Vega asks, and the tension in her chest is starting to ease.

 

“Of course, munchkin, if they make you happy we’re all for it.” Alex smiles and steps forward, wrapping her daughter in a hug that lasts for a long, long time. Her little girl really isn’t so little anymore.

 

What Vega doesn’t know is that the second Alex and Astra had a suspicion that Vega even liked Ash, they performed like full reconnaissance on them. To the point where Alex was doing a fully sanctioned and thorough government background check and Astra followed Ash around for the day to make sure that they really were as nice a person in front of people as behind closed doors. It was totally overkill, and on some level both Alex and Astra knew it, but they only had one little girl, and they didn’t want her to ever get hurt, at least not physically. Vega has to learn and make her own mistakes and that includes getting her heart broken a time or tow potentially, but definitely doesn’t include dating someone with an abusive disposition or mob connections or the like. As far as Alex and Astra are concerned Vega doesn’t ever need to know that they went on this little information side trip and that’s why they are chill about everything now.

 

Vega eyes them a little skeptically. “Are you sure?”

 

Astra puts on what Vega likes to call her General Face and scowls. “I can intimidate them if you wish, if it would make you less suspicious.”

 

Vega snorts. “Ok, fine, no thank you. Just checking. Because I thought you guys would freak out a little more than this.”

 

“We trust your decisions. We’ve taught you enough that you should be able to make the best ones.” Alex squeezes Vega’s hand. “They’re still going to have to meet us before they take you out thought. Just to be sure.”

 

Vega groans. She had been waiting for something like that. All in all, though, with them being as chill as they are, Vega doesn’t think it will go badly.

 

“Fine.”

 

Her mothers smile at the same time. “Good, we look forward to meeting them.” Astra steps forward and draws them all into a hug that makes Alex groan and Vega sigh loudly while still cuddling into the embrace. Mothers.

 

Ash comes over on Friday night and meets Astra and Alex. There’s a bit of the General glare and one of Alex’s more impressive DEO weapons sitting on the table in the next room, but still clearly visible, but the meeting goes off well. Astra is impressed by the thoughtfulness in Ash and Alex by the protective spark she sees in their eyes when they look at Vega. Everything is going to be just fine as they bid their daughter to have a good night and shut the door behind her.


	29. Chapter 29

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: how is the relationship between Vega and her cousin Carter?

Carter is thirteen when Vega crashes. He’s really not a big part of her life until later, though, not until after his Mom and Kara have been together for a while. He’s fifteen when he starts coming around some with Kara, after he’s been let in on the Super Secret, because Vega’s two and change, she can’t exactly hide any super powers she has at the moment. Vega, of course, sees another older kid and thinks that Carter is amazing, once she gets over her shyness. Carter gets dragged into playing with a very excitable two-year-old, but he’s ok with it. He listens to Vega attentively, even though half the time he’s sure that she isn’t speaking English. He catches the snatches of Spanish, but there are definitely some other languages in there. He recognizes the cadence of one as Kryptonese. Kara thinks that by cursing in an alien language that he won’t know what’s going on, but the tone of cursing is the same in any language. Maybe he should get on learning some more words that just how to say the Kryptonese version of fuck off. Vega is delighted at the undivided attention of Carter and ends up showing him all of her toys and getting Carter to read her five picture books before Alex comes and snatches her away to get ready for dinner.

 

After that, whenever Carter is over, Vega goes to him and starts talking a million miles an hour. Carter learns more Kryptonese over time, Kara is glad to teach him, it brings her more happiness than she can say that he wants to learn. Carter is her son for all intents and purposes and the fact that she can give her child this one piece of her homeland…well. So Carter starts to reply in broken Kryptonese sometimes to Vega’s smattering of languages. Vega, being two, corrects him a lot, because that’s what her mothers do to her so why shouldn’t she? Carter is half amused at Vega correcting him and a little annoyed. She’s two and he’s human and can’t stop stupid feelings like that sometimes. He does get better though, so he supposes he should thank her.

 

Carter becomes that kid at family gatherings that is tasked with watching the other smaller kids while the adults are off doing whatever it is that adults do at family gatherings. Vega puts Carter through his paces as a prince, a knight, a horse, the commander to her general, Special Secretest Agent, he sits in at tea parties and play with more hotwheels than even he had as a kid, and honestly, he has fun doing it. He understands being the special kid that really wants someone to play with. Vega may not have the anxiety disorder that he does, but that does not mean she’s not an outsider in other ways. Carter understands.

 

As Vega grows up and Carter goes off to college their dynamic changes a little bit. Carter is still the cool older cousin that Vega worships the ground he walks on, but there are less toys and more video games and coding and watching TV shows that Winn showed Vega and Carter already loves. Carter shows her some of the shows he loved when he was little and Vega shows him new ones. Netflix is like their BFF basically.

 

Carter when he’s away messages Vega on various social media platforms and texting too. Mostly it’s just ridiculous memes because he’s in college and why the fuck not nothing is funnier than a meme at four am after turning in a term paper. It’s humor that an elementary student that laughs at farts definitely gets. Vega laughs and laughs at them and sends her own back too. Sometimes they’re are homework questions because Carter has actually gone through the American school system recently and he’s the one who explains the best. Sometimes it’s just little hearts that Carter sends back with only a slight eye roll.

 

When Vega hits high school and college their conversations are slightly panicked on Vega’s side because how the fuck does she adult? Who the fuck knows how to do this oh my fucking god? Carter really doesn’t know either but he definitely has advice on Vega’s problems because he went through the same thing when he was her age. Vega’s more thankful for the advice than he knows. It’s more honest advice than either of her mothers would give her and more relavent too considering it’s a different era now than when Alex grows up and a different planet from Astra’s childhood. Cat’s advice sometimes helps because she’s just so…Cat. But Carter is the one who talks her down from the college decision madness and the finals panics and the how do you rent an apartment worry.

 

When Carter gets married Vega is a bridesmaid. Vega hates the dress. It really is as ugly as the movies said it would be. But she smiles at Carter like he’s still the best like person in the world and Carter smiles back just the same.


	30. Chapter 30

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: For the Vega series. What about Cat/Kara asking if Vega wants to be their baby's godmother. And everyone is like "WHAT?" and Cat/Kara are like "Oh? Did we not tell you?" They could be adopting, but also what if there was a way to combine their DNA?

Vega comes back from her first semester of college, relieved that its over and that she managed to survive. She’s not exactly sure how humans actually manage it because she felt like she was being buried alive under work and other obligations those first couple weeks and she had superpowers that meant she didn’t need as much sleep as everyone else. Then again, everyone seemed to live on coffee, so maybe that’s how they did it. No matter what, she loves it at school now that she’s settled in, but a break is just what she needs.

 

She’s sitting in her room, looking at her suitcase that she probably needs to unpack sometime soon, but hasn’t gotten around to it just yet when her Aunt Kara flies in her open window.

 

“Hey kiddo, heard you were back for Christmas.” Kara flops down beside Vega.

 

“Yup, though I don’t think my brain has realized its break yet. It feels like I’m forgetting to do something.”

 

Kara laughs. “Yeah, I remember that feeling. It’ll go away in a few days.” She nudges Vega’s shoulder. “I’m proud of you, though.”

 

Vega blushes and gets up to actually start unpacking now. “Thanks, Aunt Kara.”

 

“It’s a big adjustment from high school to college. It takes a lot to get used to, you shouldn’t sell yourself short.”

 

“Yeah, I know. I’m proud of myself too.” And she is, but taking compliments has never been her strongest suit, though she is getting better, she thinks, if only because she has Cat’s voice in her head tell her to own her successes.

 

They sit in companionable silence for a bit as Vega unpacks everything from her bag and then flops back on her bed. Superpowers or no, finals have left her dead out tired.

 

“I know you’re tired tonight,” Kara says as Vega leans against her drowsily. “But tomorrow, could you come over for dinner? Cat and I have something important to ask you.”

 

Vega wakes up a bit at that. “Is anything wrong?” Because growing up in a Super family, that’s usually the best question to ask first.

 

“No, no, everything’s fine, more than fine, it’s great.” Kara smiles wide enough that Vega actually believes her.

 

“Ok, yeah, sure I can come over for dinner. Cat’s cooking is the best.”

 

At that Kara nods with a dreamy look on her face. “Yeah, it really is.” She leans over and kisses Vega on the forehead. “I’ll tell her you’re coming and she’ll probably make the cinnamon buns you love.”

 

Vega gasps. Cat only makes those on holidays and special occasions and Vega loves them more than life itself.

 

“I know.” She stands up. “So get some sleep. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Kara walks over to the window and slips out.

 

“Bye Aunt Kara, see you tomorrow,” Vega calls after her. She sits for another few seconds before grabbing her stuff for a shower and following her aunt’s direction. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t stop to think about just what her Aunt and her wife want to talk to her about. The list really could be endless. She supposes she’ll have to find out tomorrow.

 

–

 

The next day she lands on the balcony of Cat and Kara’s penthouse apartment. She smells cinnamon buns and her mouth watered. Oh god, Cat had actually made them. She steps through the door to see Cat holding a small child of no more than four in her arms as they both try valiantly to get icing onto the cinnamon buns and not everywhere else. Vega smiles at the picture, but wonders just who the kid is.

 

“Hey Cat,” Vega says walking over to the kitchen.

 

“Hello, Vega,” Cat says, looking up for a second with a smile before going back to helping the kid with the icing.

 

Kara’s boots thump on the balcony a second later and Vega turns to wave. “Hey Aunt Kara.”

 

Kara smiles at her and walks straight for Cat and the toddler. She takes the little girl in her arms and spins her around for a second until the girl is giggling before settling the kid on her hip. “Hi Vega.” She looks down at the little girl. “This is Vega can you say hi?”

 

The little girl waves happily. “Hi Vega!”

 

Kara looks back up at Vega. “This is Jenna.”

 

“Hi Jenna.” She waves back at her. It still doesn’t answer the question of just who the girl is, though. Why is she here? Vega has a sneaking suspicion, but she’s not sure she’s right.

 

Kara goes over to the sink and helps Jenna get cleaned up while Cat finishes up icing the buns. She plates one and hangs the plate to Vega.

 

“Dinner will be done in thirty. It’s the stuffed chicken you both like so well.”

 

Both Kara and Vega perk up. “The one with hollandaise sauce and spinach?” Vega asks.

 

Cat nods. “Of course. There’s a salad and baked potato to go along with it. Enough for half an army.” She smiles teasingly.

 

“I’m ok with being a fourth of an army,” Vega says. “Especially if that fourth of an army gets to eat what you make.”

 

“Eat your cinnamon bun.” Cat gives her a fork. “Chop chop.”

 

Kara comes back from washing Jenna’s hands and nudges her towards the living room. “Go play with your toys.”

 

Jenna nods obediently and heads off towards the living room.

 

Vega turns to Cat and Kara. “So I assume I’m going to get the explanation now, right?”

 

Kara sits down at the other stool at the island and grabs her own cinnamon bun before Cat can protest. “Yeah, part of the reason we called you here tonight.” She sighs quietly. “You’re the first one we’re going to tell.”

 

Vega sits patiently, waiting for what they’re going to tell her. Sometimes when Kara gets sad she’s slow to a point in a much less babbly way.

 

“A few days ago I was doing a routine rescue mission. There was a huge pile up on the ten and there was a fuel tanker. It was leaking and I was evacuating everyone before it went up.” She looks back at Jenna. “I got Jenna out, but when I went back for her parents…” She shook her head.

 

Cat took over telling the story. “I kept tabs on the little girl because I knew it would be important to Kara. It turns out that the only family Jenna had was her parents. They were going to put her into the system, but we stepped forward. We’ve had her for a few weeks now. We, of course, told Carter immediately, but you are the first one outside of our exclusive family unit that we’ve told.”

 

“Has Aunt Astra told you about _uldif zehdh_?” Kara asked.

 

Vega squinted for a second, trying to remember. “Oh, was it the people who were like the equivalent of god parents on Earth?”

 

Kara nodded. “It’s a little different, but yeah that’s the general concept.”

 

“Kara and I were wondering if you would be Jenna’s uldif zehdh,” Cat asks.

 

Vega’s eyes widen. She knows it’s a huge honor to be asked, especially when Cat and Kara could have chosen a dozen other people just as easily. She looks back at the little girl that’s playing quietly and her heart starts to beat a bit faster. She doesn’t know if she’s ready for that responsibility. But the idea itself, without worrying about everything, she doesn’t mind it. To be able to get in this little girl’s life as an aunt-like figure, she knows its special. She’s had her own fair share of aunts and uncles and knows how amazing they can be.

 

“I’d be honored,” Vega says, turning around to face Kara and Cat.

 

Kara smiles wide and finally starts to eat her cinnamon bun now. Cat just nods and looks at her new daughter.

 

“Thank you. I know you’ll be good with her.”

 

Vega hopes so. She looks at Jenna, who’s already looking at her and smiling wide. She really, really hopes so.


	31. Chapter 31

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: I really like this General Danvers ficlets series. Is there any way maybe Maggie could be brought in? Somehow Vega gets caught up with the police perhaps? It doesn't have to be anything sexual but I think it would be nice to see her. And if it doesn't become something sexual maybe it could be a "if I wasn't with Astra I could see myself trying a relationship with this woman" or something.

The summer between her freshman and sophomore year of college, Vega gets political. Really political. Attends every protest she can, petition signing, door knocking, flyer passing out type of political. It’s for a rather personal cause. A few months before a new alien race that’s unknown to everyone, even the aliens in M’gann’s bar showed up on Earth’s doorstep with a white flag and a proposal for trade. Their people lived off pollution quite literally, and even being as wasteful as possible, their population had reached a critical level. Earth had enough pollution to sustain them for a good long time. The citizens of Earth got a clean planet and the aliens got to keep on living. It was a win-win.

 

Except that humans saw aliens that weren’t so shiny as Superman or Supergirl and lost their damn minds. The US government had made moves to shoot the so called invaders out of the sky. Vega, being an alien herself had taken offense to this, of course, and had joined the peace movement as soon as she could.

 

That’s how she meets Maggie Sawyer, detective of the NCPD called into service because the protest on a summer day in the middle of June were too massive for the patrol officers to handle alone. She drew the short straw and she’s manning the booking desk when Vega’s brought in, red faced and clearly angry, but she’s not struggling or mouthing off like a lot of the protestors are. Maggie, who’s got a headache the size of Nebraska, appreciates it.

 

“What are the charges,” she asks the officer escorting her, a little bored even with the chaos and the headache factored in. She’s rather be out actually doing something.

 

“Assaulting a police officer.”

 

Maggie raises an eyebrow at that. It wasn’t an uncommon charge for protests, but this girl definitely didn’t look like she’d haul off and punch an officer. And from the look that crosses the girl’s face, just a microexpression really, not something easily faked, Maggie guesses there’s something more there. She’s detective. She might as well detect.

 

“Peterson!” Maggie calls back.

 

Peterson, a rookie who’s greener than grass shows up at her side.

 

“You’ve been shown how booking works?” Maggie asks. It’s simple work. Peterson isn’t the brightest, but he’s smart enough for this.

 

He nods.

 

“Good, you manage this, I’ve got something to look into.” She walks around the desk and takes the girl’s arm. “I’ve got this,” she says to the officer.

 

He nods. “The officer report is already on file for you.” Then he walks back out into the fray.

 

Maggie leads the girl back to an interview room and unlocks the cuffs. “Sit. You need water? It’s hot out there?”

 

The girl nods and Maggie grabs a couple bottles before sitting down. “So, what happened?”

 

“I get a lawyer don’t I?” she asks.

 

“If you want one, but something tells me that the charges against you are bull.” She pulls up the report file and looks it over. It’s sparse, she figured since it was from the field, but something sticks out to her. There’s no video from a button cam, and all officers have one today of all days. The guy filing would have been asked to upload the relevant footage which would have taken a couple minutes at most even away from the precint. Maggie smells a rat stronger than she did before.

 

“They are, but I shouldn’t say anything until I have a lawyer, or at least my parents are here.”

 

Maggie nods. “Fair enough, better to be safe than sorry, I respect that. You still have your phone on you?”

 

The girl nods.

 

“Go ahead then.”

 

She takes out her phone and dials. Someone picks up the other end almost immediately, but Maggie can’t hear what they’re saying. Whatever it is, the girl responds in a language that definitely isn’t from Earth. Well, she supposes that’s not surprising at a peace protest for aliens. She wonders if the Gythnaim knew they’d get into this much trouble approaching Earth. Maybe they did and they were truly that desperate. Maggie didn’t know.

 

The girl hangs up the phone and Maggie leans back in her chair. “So, what planet?”

 

The girl blinks. “Excuse me?”

 

“Definitely not a terrestrial language. I’m with the science division normally so I deal with a lot of cases the public don’t particularly know about, crosses into aliens a fair bit. I’ve dated a few too. So. Planet?”

 

“I was born here,” the girl asserts adamantly.

 

“But your parents?”

 

“My Mom was born here too.”

 

“But what about your Dad?”

 

The girl crosses her arms. “I don’t have one.”

 

“But you said parents so, another mom?” Maggie smiles softly at the thought.

 

“Yes.”

 

“Huh, lesbian alien, with the LGBT community already so small it’s a miracle I don’t know them already, let alone an alien that hangs around. Thought I dated them all.”

 

The girl blinks again, this time more stunned than anything. “What?”

 

“Yeah, kid, lesbian police officer, who would have thought.” Maggie rolls her eyes. Stereotype got her everytime damn it.

 

“No, I was more talking about the dating all the LGBT aliens part of that.” The girl sat forward.

 

“Oh, yeah, what are your parents’ names I could tell you if I know them. Or dated them. Your name would also be nice. Caliing you kid doesn’t seem like the best.”

 

“Vega Danvers, my moms are Alex Danvers and Astra In-Ze,” Vega says.

 

Maggie whistles. She’s heard of the both of them, not from the community, but from her job working with science division. Alex and the DEO routinely steal cases away from them, though Maggie’s never had the pleasure. Astra is hard to miss too, considering she helps Supergirl more often than not.

 

“Nope, never dated them, but I know of them.”

 

The girl perks up. “They’re both here.”

 

Well, that answers the question of whether Vega was an alien herself. The hearing couldn’t be anything but.

 

Maggie walks out of the room to find two women practically charging towards her. She knows angry mama bears when she sees them and just steps aside and lets them through, grabbing an extra chair from the empty desks and coming back into the room and shutting the door.

 

The woman with the white streak whips around to face her as the door shuts. “What are the charges.”

 

“Supposedly assaulting an officer, but.” Maggie shrugs.

 

“Supposedly?” The woman takes a step forward.

 

“That’s what I’m trying to get to the bottom of right now,” Maggie says calmly. “I’m Dectective Maggie Sawyer.” She steps out and offers a hand.

 

“General Astra In-Ze.” The handshake was a little tighter than comfortable, but Maggie didn’t let on.

 

The other woman steps forward. “Alex Danvers. I’ve heard your name before. Science division?”

 

Maggie nods. “I’ve heard of you too, but never had the pleasure of working with you.” She motions to the chairs. “But lets get this all sorted with your daughter before talking shop.”

 

Maggie takes her own seat and looks at Vega. “So, what happened?”

 

Vega looks at her mothers who nod before she starts to talk. “I was walking along the edge of the protest, handing out water bottles and checking to make sure everyone was ok. Everyone was starting to get restless and tired and the organizers were trying to keep everything under control. For the most part it was working, but some people were too fired up and did some dumb stuff and I saw a few guys getting arrested for disorderly conduct, nothing big though, but I went over to make sure everything was ok. There were a couple officers standing around the perimeter, just making sure no one interfered and I asked one what was happening. He told me the charges and I nodded and was about to move on when another officer came up behind me and said ‘But someone as sweet looking as you wouldn’t get arrested, would you honey.’” Vega’s eyes flared with contempt. “I turned and told him that I didn’t like being addressed like that and went to leave again but he grabbed my arm and told me I wasn’t allowed to leave until I was done talking to him. I turned to get help from the other officer but he had gotten involved with the arrests now and wasn’t watching, no one really was considering I wasn’t where the action was. I told him to let go of me and that if he wasn’t going to charge me with anything I was leaving.”

 

The table creaks under Astra’s fingers and Maggie wonders if they were going to have to get a new one after this interview. Wouldn’t be the first time.

 

“He let go and I turned around and then he grabbed my butt and I slapped his hand away. He called that assaulting an officer and then arrested me and here I am,” Vega finishes. Maggie swore there was a pink sheen over her iries. Well, that was definitely something to keep in mind, heat vision ran in the family.

 

“Alright then, I’m going to go pull his camera uploads for the past few hours and I’ll set up your statement for you too. Do you want to press charges if the video comes back as useable?”

 

Vega nods. “He doesn’t need to be able to do this to anyone else.”

 

“Good, I’ll be back.”

 

Maggie gets everything in order. The idiot had caught everything that Vega had said had happened on his body cam. She damn well hoped that this idiot got fired. She knew of him and knew that he wasn’t good news. It would be a good thing for the force to get rid of him.

 

A couple hours later Maggie shakes everyone’s hands again. “Sorry about all this, it shouldn’t happen, but.” She frowns.

 

“Not your fault,” Alex says as Astra and Vega nodded and walked out of the station. “There’s a few in every law enforcement operation. God knows we have our own. Thank you for not just booking her that would have not been a fun fight.”

 

“Something tells me, Danvers, you’re good in a fight.” Maggie smiles.

 

Alex shrugs. “Not as good as I used to be, but damn good still, Sawyer. You’ll find out if you’re ever on a case with me.”

 

“I think we’d make a good team. Very no nonsense.”

 

“Yup, sounds about right. I’ll buy you a few beers to thank you for all this, if you want.”

 

Maggie hasn’t been out with someone who understands just how crazy her job is in a while. She could use a friend like that honestly.

 

“Yeah, Danvers, you play pool?”

 

Alex smirks at that. “Oh, do I ever.”

 

“It’s on then. You have my number, whenever you’re free. Bring your wife if she can play pool and I’ll kick both of your asses.”

 

“Biting off more than you can chew, there aren’t you.”

 

“I know what I can handle.”

 

The next week Maggie gets assigned a case that Alex swoops in with her DEO tac gear and steals right out from under her. Maggie isn’t so pissed, especially when it means she gets to see a god awful amount of alien guns and gadgets that are straight out of a sci-fi movie. What must it be like to actually have resources? They close the case faster than she’s ever managed working for the force, and then come the beers and the pool. She kicks Alex’s ass, but doesn’t quite manage to beat Astra. Next case, though, she’ll beat Astra. Next case for sure.


	32. Chapter 32

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Alex and Astra find out that Vega is having sex.

It happens the summer between Vega’s sophomore and junior year of college. Vega’s got her first off campus apartment now so that she can stay over the summer for an internship at an up and coming software development firm that one of her professors had founded. She loved the job and was so, so excited about it, and so Alex and Astra swallowed the disappointment that their little girl wasn’t coming home. Astra worries and worries that soon she won’t come home except for holidays, if that, but then again, she worries too much. Vega comes home frequently during the school year, if only so her moms have to do her laundry and there’s a god awful amount of free food. And because she loves her moms, but she’s a college student so…free food is king.

 

Astra, though, decides that halfway through the summer that she and Alex are going to surprise Vega with a visit. Vega’s been too busy to come home all summer and it will be good for her to have a weekend out with family. Alex shrugs and agrees to go because she misses Vega too, but she also remembers being in college and needing the independence of deciding when she was coming home, or if for that matter. She wouldn’t have come home near as often without Kara to think about. She knows that Vega is spreading her wings now, and god is she doing a good job of it, but she won’t say no to seeing her either. Though maybe she should have slipped Vega a warning that they were coming. She definitely wishes she did later.

 

They pull up at Vega’s apartment at nine in the morning. Alex is still a little cranky that she had to get up at five in the morning on her day off. They could have gotten here at like eleven, which is definitely a better hour for a college student anyway, but Astra was too keyed up for that. So she pried herself out of bed and drove them here because Astra is never allowed to drive much outside of trips to the grocery store because she drives like they’re in the middle of a combat zone and Alex would like to live to see fifty thank you very much.

 

Astra, it turns out, is also too keyed up to have any of her super senses online for fear of sensory overload. So they climb up the stairs and let themselves into Vega’s apartment with the extra key she’d given them just in case she got locked out and they walk right into what looks to be some rather vigorous kitchen counter sex. And if Astra was too keyed up to engage her super senses, well, Vega must be too because there wasn’t even a pause. Her daughter is fucking someone with enough vigor that it might as well be a porno. God, Alex has seen some shit in her life, but honestly this isn’t something she would repeat again. There are things that mothers just shouldn’t see.

 

She looks away pretty quickly and tries to tug Astra out of the room. Astra, of course, decides that that moment is the best moment become a stone statue. When she gets this way there’s no way that Alex is moving her. Dear god this could not get any more awkward. All she wants is to walk out of the apartment, give her daughter like an hour to finish up whatever this is, and then call her and tell her that they’re coming over for a surprise visit and then pretend that this never happened. Because while she knew that her daughter was probably having sex after she went to college, there was no need for her to actually see it first hand.

 

So since Astra isn’t moving and the moans from whoever is on the counter are starting to get pretty loud, Alex decides that there’s only one way to end this before everything hits a climax. And god, did she have to think about that word right this very second? She just needs to open her mouth and say something and everything will be awkward but not as awkward as if they finish up and discover that her and Astra have been standing here for–

 

“Fuck Vega!” And its a girl on the counter apparently, though that was pretty implied since Vega is the one doing the fucking. And now this just got awkward because they’re finished and how much time before–

 

Vega whips around to see her mothers standing in the doorway, one frozen and Alex still trying to tug Astra back out even though she knows it isn’t going to work. Vega turns bright red and grabs a dish towel and throws it back to her partner before calming walking over to the couch and grabbing a blanket to wrap around herself.

 

“Um, hi moms…” Vega says once the blanket is around her. “What a surprise.”

 

“You could say that,” Alex deadpans. “And before we get into it, blame your _Ieiu_  the surprise was all her idea.”

 

Astra finally breathes again and moves from being a statue. She’s the same bright red as Vega. “It was. I wanted to take you out to breakfast.”

 

“Right, um, yeah.” She looks over at the girl still on the counter with the dish towel placed over key parts. The girl shrugs. She’s not really making eye contact with anyone but Vega, but her dark skin prevents any sign of a blush on her cheeks. Alex bets that she might be redder than Vega though if she could be. No one, no one wants to come with your girlfriend’s parents in the room. Way to up the awkward.

 

“Sure, breakfast is good. Just um, give us a couple minutes to get ready? We can meet you outside.”

 

Thank god she raised a smart child because that is an out if she ever saw one.

 

“Ok, good, we’ll be by the car.” This time when Alex pulls on Astra’s arm, Astra follows.

 

Astra doesn’t speak until they’re out in the sunlight again and she has her face turned to absorb as much light as possible. “Of all the things in my life, if I had to pick one to scrub from my mind, that would be it.”

 

Alex snorts because she’s right there with her. Sex is beautiful and all and she wants her daughter to have a nice sex life, but…yeah. She would have noped the fuck out of this a long time ago if possible.

 

Vega comes out with the girl, both thankfully now dressed a little while later. The car ride to the diner is the awkwardest thing Alex has ever done and for gods sake she was a science nerd as a teenager. But then once they’re there and eating, things loosen up between all of them. As much as they can after something like that anyway. They get to know Jessica, who apparently Vega started dating at the end of last semester. She’s a sweet girl and whip-smart and matches Vega quip for quip and Alex immediately likes her. Astra is a little more guarded and if Alex had to guess her thoughts were somewhere along the lines of ‘this woman corrupted my daughter’ while knowing that wasn’t really true. Alex elbows her halfway through the meal and Astra seems to snap out of it some. Or at least enough to talk which is a win in her book.

 

The meal ends and they drop off Vega with plans for dinner and a movie night later. Jessica just waves at them and walks towards Vega’s apartment like the hounds of hell were chasing her and Alex doesn’t blame her a bit. Vega just shifts for a second before looking at her mothers.

 

“Um, maybe next time call first?” Vega says blushing again.

 

“Yeah, munchkin, I think we will.” Alex starts the car and pulls off so she can start to forget the whole awkward encounter.


	33. Chapter 33

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: What would it look like of Vega and Jessica have a fight? Does Jessica know about Vega's superpowers? What if she doesn't? Is Vega affected the same by kryptonite? She's kryptonian but she was born on Earth.

In the scheme of things, Jessica finds out pretty quickly that Vega has superpowers. There’s about a year, however, where she doesn’t know. Even though Vega has grown up with her powers, during that year she has a few slip ups, like her Ieiu and Aunt Kara still do even though they’ve lived with their powers longer than Vega’s been alive. Mostly they happen when she’s emotional, which definitely happens during a fight. Alex is fiery when she’s mad and words come tumbling out of her mouth before she can think about them, Astra is cold and sharp and desolating and thinks about her words before they come there are less of them, but god are they effective. Vega, Vega is some combination of the two, cold fire, exploding and pacing and gesturing wildly with a sharp tongue and knowing exactly where to hit to cause maximum damage. It’s a scary sight to behold.

 

It’s even scarier when her eyes start to glow pink, and Jessica has no idea why. Or a spoon gets bent in half with no effort. Or Vega starts to float a little bit off the ground. Jessica is observant even when they’re arguing and things only add up to one conclusion, but Vega doesn’t exactly look like Supergirl. She does, however, look a bit like the hero that shows up now and again to help Supergirl. The media calls her Superwoman, but she’s been showing up for as long as they’ve been alive. So it’s pretty unlikely that Vega is Superwoman, but...maybe she’s just imagining things. Real or fake, even when she does see these things, she’s not afraid of Vega, Jessica trusts her. And Vega, Vega always turns away from Jessica and takes a few deep breaths or looks at Jessica and says “Before this gets anymore out of hand I think I need time to cool down, ok?” and then goes off for a while before she comes back, calm and ready to sort out whatever was the basis of the argument in the first place. They disagree often, but true agruments are few and far between, growing less and less as they get to know each other and learn.

 

When Vega does tell Jessica, though, about a year after they started dating and two years into their friendship, Jessica doesn’t take it well. She’s been waiting and waiting for Vega to tell her, so long that she really is convinced that she sees things when they argue. It’s only been like half second glimpses and she could have imagined it. Or at least that’s what she’s been telling herself until Vega actually sits her down and explains to her that her mom is an alien and so is she, sort of, considering she was born on Earth. She does have the superpowers though. Jessica just kind of shuts down for a minute because she had talked herself into believing that she was seeing things, had doubted herself, had thought she was having a mental break, but no, everything was true. And she had gone through all of that, just because only now had Vega actaully trusted her enough to tell her.

 

So she looks up at Vega, a bit of murder in her eyes and says, “You couldn’t have told me that before I thought I was crazy?”

 

Vega blinks. “Um, sorry?” She rubs at the back of her neck. “Technically I’m not supposed to tell anyone, but a few nights ago I sort of realized that we were definitely in it for the long haul and that you deserved to know.”

 

“Oh. Right. So that makes it ok. You weren’t allowed to tell me.” And maybe Jessica knows she’s being unresonable, but she doesn’t care at the moment. She shoves up off the couch and stands. “I’m leaving. Don’t call me. Don’t fly by my house, don’t even think about me.”

 

Vega pops up after her. The arguements her mothers have, the worst ones aren’t the shouting matches, the worst ones are when they both go cold and stop speaking. She can see it happening right now in front of her eyes and she wants to stop it before it can even start.

 

“Look, Jess, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you before, but you have to understand it’s a delicate secret and really, I don’t tell people because it puts them in danger too. I mean I’m not the one who’s in the public eye a lot, but it doesn’t take much to trace back from my Ieiu to me and everyone I care about.” She puts a gentle hand on Jessica’s shoulder but it’s shaken off as Jessica shrugs on her jacket.

 

“I don’t care right now, Vega. I can’t deal with this right now.” She whips around. “Because do you know what it’s like to doubt yourself so much that you think you’re going crazy? No? Ok, well, let me tell you right here and right now that it’s not a pleasant feeling and one that I’m not going to stop being mad about just because you tell me good reasons for. I’m allowed to be angry. You damn well know I am. So just let me walk out this fucking door right now or this fight will get even worse. You walk away from our arguments all the time, why is this different?”

 

Vega pauses to think for a few moments. “Because when I walk out it isn’t because I’m too mad to function, it’s because I know that everything I need to say has been said and to really talk about it, I need space to cool down. You just stopped from the get-go.” She looks down at the floor. “And I’m not sure you’ll come back and I don’t know if I can deal with that.”

 

Jessica’s anger cools just enough for her to reach out and squeeze Vega’s hand. “I’ll be back. Though don’t think that you’re off the hook when I do come back.”

 

“Never thought I was.”

 

Jessica leaves and Vega lets her this time. That night she cries and eats enough ice cream to stock a ice cream shop, and hopes that what Jessica said is true.

 

\--

 

Jessica does come back three days later. She opens the door to Vega’s apartment with the key that Vega gave her and sits down on the couch beside her.

 

“So, any weaknesses?” Jessica asks. “If you’re some superpowered alien, I need to know just in case you decide to be noble or something like your moms. I need to know just how easy it is for you to be hurt so I can worry accordingly.”

 

“Not really that easy. Like I can catch bombs and be fine. But there is one thing, Kryptonite. It’s from my Ieiu’s home planet. It messes with the absorption of the radtiation from the sun and makes us vunerable again. So unless someone has some green glowing sword, I should be ok.”

 

Jessica nods. “Good, because you aren’t making me lose my mind again like that again, you hear?”

 

“I hear loud and clear.” She kisses Jessica’s temple. “I’m sorry I made you think you were crazy. It’s just harder to control everything when I’m super emotional. That’s probably what you were seeing.”

 

Jessica hums. “Well, you don’t seem to have any problems in the bedroom, and I’d say you’re real emotional there.”

 

Vega doesn’t really have a comeback for that, so wisely, she stays silent and tilts Jessica’s face towards hers and kisses the other woman again. When Jessica kisses back, she knows she’s forgiven, even if there’s still some more talking to be done. She can take that as long as she knows they’ll be together.


	34. Chapter 34

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Propmt: What do Alex and Astra do when Vega gets a job on the east coast?

When Vega graduates college with a 3.9 GPA, four internships, and two separate moderately successful apps to her name, she has job offers from all over. She looks over the offers, almost all of them with great salaries and benefits at good companies. She’s got the pick of whatever she wants. It’s every college graduate’s dream, really. But she doesn’t choose the highest paying job, or even in the top ten. She chooses a company that donates five percent of its profits to charities, most notably Girls Who Code among others, that has a company policy that requires five community service hours a month, and whose main focus is software that helps accessibility for disabled people. It’s everything she could have wanted in a company, really.

 

Her mothers are thrilled when she describes the offer. Up until they hear that the company is in Metropolis, all the way across the country and then a bit of that enthusiasm dies off. Silicon Valley is California, they always thought that Vega would end up near them, if not super close, a day trip at most. The East Coast is not a day trip, well, not a day trip for anyone who isn’t Astra at least. It’s that final nail in the “Our baby is growing up” coffin. Vega really is about to go out and start her own life, on her own, across the country. And god, she’s ready, she has been for the last couple years, really, but. There’s just something about the reality that’s only hitting them now.

 

Astra recovers first. “Well, we’ll need to find you a place to live. Do you want me to fly out with you over the weekend to look?”

 

“Uh, actually, Jessica and I are flying to look for the next couple of days. She found a job in Metropolis too. But I wouldn’t say no to some help narrowing down the choices. Or moving in and setting everything up.”

 

“God, don’t tell me you’re going to saddle me with the IKEA furniture assembling again,” Alex groans. “I still have nightmares from moving you into your first apartment. The instructions don’t make any damn sense.”

 

Vega laughs at that. “Yeah, Mom, I was actually thinking about it just because I want to see you get mad at a chair again. I still have that picture of you staring at the chair with its legs on backwards like it betrayed you. An MD and a PhD and yet a chair conquered you.”

 

Alex mumbles out something about liking to see Vega assemble a damn piece of satan furniture, but from across the line it isn’t clear enough for even Vega to catch, though Astra laughs.

 

So Astra flies out to Metropolis with Vega and Jessica and they spend the better part of a week looking around at apartments, trying to find one that wasn’t going to break the bank between the two of them, that was in a good neighborhood, and that was somewhere close to both of their workplaces, with bonus points if it had in building laundry and a pet acceptance policy. Jessica really wanted a cat and Vega could deny her nothing.

 

Astra watches the two of them together for the week and sees an enormous amount of love between them. She’s fond of Jessica, despite their rather interesting meeting, and having her daughter move across the country with the girl by her side isn’t the worst idea. They would protect each other to the end. And she knows that might change some day, but she sees a bit of Alex and herself in them, and maybe it will last too. Astra hopes, because she’s never seen her daughter happier than listening to Jessica narrate all the terrible features in an apartment that they are most definitely not getting in a voice that’s a dead-on imitation of an HGTV announcer. And more than anything she wants her daughter to be happy, even if it means that she moves so far away from home. She hopes that Vega doesn’t forget to visit and call, too.

 

They find an apartment, and for what it is, it’s a steal. It’s a studio overlooking a small park, with a spacious kitchen and living area and a section already partitioned off for a bedroom with sturdy looking screens. It’s bright and full of light and clean. It even has a pet acceptance policy, but the in building laundry is a wash. There is a laundromat down the street though, so that’s close enough. Vega is visibly excited and Jessica is smiling, already talking about how to decorate, and Astra calls Alex to book a flight out because the moving will begin shortly.

 

Astra and Vega fly all of her and Jessica’s stuff out to Metropolis in a few trips that leads to both of them eating ten pizzas each from the exertion, but all the stuff is there. While they were flying everything over, Jessica and Alex had gone to IKEA and gotten enough furniture to get them started. They find Alex already at war with a nightstand and Jessica trying not to laugh as she finished up a bedframe. Jessica stands up and walks over to Vega, relieving her of some of her burden and kissing her lightly.

 

“Your mother is hilarious,” she says. “I think she might be planning to burn the nearest IKEA to the ground.”

 

“Damn right!” Alex shouts as she throws a screwdriver down.

 

Vega just laughs and laughs. “Yeah, _Ieiu_  might need to hold her back at the end of all this.”

 

“I can take her!” Alex says.

 

“But you can’t take a chair,” Astra deadpanned.

 

“God fucking damn it all of you. You try to put together this stupid piece of shit and then talk to me.”

 

Jessica motions to the bedframe. “I just put that together, so, I can talk to you.  And I think you’re just making this difficult there, Alex.”

 

Alex points at Jessica. “I can take you down with my pinky, just remember that.”

 

Everyone laughs at that and Alex goes back to assembling, grumbling all the while.

 

They get everything set up in a couple days and by the time they’re done it looks cute and cosy and everything that a first apartment should be. There’s still a couple of days before both Jessica and Vega have to start and they have plans to explore the city around them in the meantime. Astra and Alex hug them both goodbye and wish them a good time before flying back home. If there are tears in their eyes when they take off, well, no one needs to know.

 

A few days pass and then Alex gets a call from Vega. Vega starts babbling from the second Alex says hello, telling her mother about her first day at work. Astra finds Alex a second later and listens in, smiling because Vega already knows that she loves it. They’re both happy that everything is falling into place for their daughter. Vega gets home ten minutes into the call and then Jessica is talking too about her day and it sounds just as affirming as Vega’s and both women smile at that too.

 

Weeks pass with regular phone calls and text messages and really, even though Vega is farther away, it feels about the same as when she was off to college. Almost. There’s still the knowledge that Vega is on the other side of the country that lingers. Until Vega shows up one day at dinner time and sits down at the table and smiles up at her mothers with that smirk that means one thing.

 

“So, what’s for dinner?” Vega asks.

 

“Of course you come to con us out of food.” Alex shakes her head, but it loses all seriousness with the soft expression on her face.

 

“Hey, not just for food, there’s also a possibility that I want to borrow your paintball gun for the family picnic.”

 

Astra walks around the table to hug her daughter. “I think both things can be arranged, darling one. I’m glad you came to see us.”

 

“Yeah, _Ieiu_  I am too.”


	35. Chapter 35

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: How does Vega get along with Lena Luthor? Has Lena ever been left alone with little Vega?

Vega sees Lena a lot at game nights, but they rarely talk when Vega is small. Lena is nice to her and answers all of Vega’s questions, but there’s something there, something that’s being held back and Vega doesn’t really understand it. She thinks that Lena doesn’t like her for a long time. For a while she tries to get Lena to like her by being extra nice and bringing Lena food and drinks and letting her win at the games they’re playing, but if anything Lena looks a little more uncomfortable when Vega does anything of the sort. She eventually stops, but she still worries a little bit that it was something she did, though she can’t think of what.

 

As she gets older, though, Lena starts to warm up to her, slowly over the years. It doesn’t really start happening until Vega’s sixteen or so, and really isn’t anywhere near a real, friendly relationship until she’s halfway through college. Vega really doesn’t understand, but Lena is actually hilarious in a dry wit sort of way, and god if she isn’t the second best person besides Winn to talk about a coding problem she’s having because Lena knows her shit and she’s definitely a problem-solver. She sort of shrugs it off. Maybe Lena just really didn’t like kids or something, nothing wrong with that considering she always treated Vega politely anyway.

 

She finds out later why Lena was distant for all those years. She’s back in town visiting Kara one Friday night after a busy week at work. Vega’s having a hell of a time getting a particular program to compile right and it’s a key component of an app her company wants to release in the next month. Winn’s already taken a look at the code but his help was to say “I think the programming gremlins are at it again” and throwing his hands up. She needs Lena, really, to get any outside the box thinking. Since Kara is her best friend, that’s the easiest place to find her on a Friday night. Usually they’re watching a movie with pizza while Cat grumbles about her figure being ruined and Lena and Kara just look at her and roll their eyes.

 

This Friday, though, Lena isn’t there and Cat’s on a business trip. It’s just her and Kara, though Vega doesn’t mind. More pizza for her and she can always find Lena later. Hacking at the problem more on her own won’t hurt her, much anyway.

 

“So where is Lena anyway,” Vega asks when they’re on their second pizza of the night.

 

A dark expression crosses Kara’s face. “Visiting her mother.”

 

Vega’s been around long enough to know that Lillian Luthor is bad news, even if no one really came out and ever said as much to her. “Oh. Why? I didn’t think she really talked to her mother anymore.”

 

“She goes and visits a few times a year. She doesn’t, well, she can’t stand much more than that.” Kara sighs, looking like she wants to go wherever it is that Lena is and scoop her up and fly her away.

 

“Wow, then she must be a real piece of work.”

 

Kara nods. “You have no idea, Vega, and I’m glad you don’t.” Kara’s quiet for a long time, not really looking at the movie they have playing, but not looking at Vega either. “Alex and Aunt Astra are great mothers, anyone looking can see that. You turned out happy and healthy and normal. As normal as any of us get anyway.” She throws a thin smile at Vega. “But Lena, well, her mother should reimburse her for all the therapy she’s had over the years. She didn’t have anyone who believed in her until…well, I’m pretty sure until me. And I met her when she was in her late twenties.”

 

Vega inhales slowly. That was too long a time to go without someone to support you. God, she didn’t even want to imagine it. Life was hard enough without a support system. And if Lena’s mother was really that bad, her life was probably harder than average.

 

Kara looks at Vega then. “You know, I know when you were little that you didn’t think that Lena liked you, but she did. She was just terrified that if she interacted with you too much she was going to mess you up somehow by association. I think she thinks that about all kids.”

 

All the pieces fit together for Vega then. Lena had started becoming friendlier when she thought that Vega was old enough not to be ‘messed up’ by her. Oh. Oh god, now she wants to go pull Lena from wherever she is and fly off with her.

 

“Can I go punch Lillian Luthor? Because that’s ridiculous. Lena’s a great person.” Her fists clench at her sides and she’s glad she isn’t holding a slice of pizza because it would be mush sliding through her fingers right now.

 

Kara nods. “I know. It took everyone else a while to see that, but I’ve always known. I’m glad you see it too.”

 

“Of course I do. Everyone who’s friends with you is wonderful in their own way, Aunt Kara. You have a light in you that just sort of makes everyone the best they can be.”

 

Kara blushes at that and shakes her head. “No, they’re already great on their own. They just might not see it.”

 

Vega sighs. She won’t get her aunt to see the truth, not really. She’s a bit too modest to take any credit, even a small little bit, but that’s ok. She knows the truth.

 

–

 

After the first movie there’s a knock on the door and both Kara and Vega look up, slipping their glasses down their faces and looking through the door. Lena.

 

Vega shoots up and opens the door. “Hey, Lena.”

 

Lena blinks, obviously not expecting Vega to be there. Her shoulders are slumped and she’s curled in on herself. Vega wants to hug her, but she thinks that that would be the wrong move here. Normality would be good, though.

 

“Oh, hello. Visiting from the East Coast, are we?”

 

“Yup, flew in a few hours ago. Faster than a jet and all that.” She shrugs. “Come in, there’s still pizza because Aunt Kara won’t eat olives.”

 

Lena smiles at that. “No, no she won’t.” She steps in the apartment and immediately looks a bit happier.

 

“You want anything to drink. There’s red and white and I think some beer from Mom’s visits, water, and probably juice and milk if Aunt Kara hasn’t drank all of it.”

 

“Red, please, and don’t be stingy with it, I beg of you.”

 

“Friday special coming up.”

 

Lena slips off her heels and coat and walks over to the couch where Kara’s sat since Vega reached the door ahead of her. She practically collapses beside Kara and Kara has her wrapped up in a hug the next second. Vega definitely hears some quiet sobs, so she bangs around in the kitchen for much, much longer than she needs to, to give them both some privacy. When she does pour the wine finally, she definitely isn’t stingy. Lena definitely needs it.

 

When everything is settled, she grabs a plate because Lena hates eating without one and goes back over to the couch and hands both items to Lena.

 

“You want the pizza warmed up?” Vega asks, fiddling with her glasses.

 

“No, I actually like cold pizza better, but thank you.”

 

Vega looked at Kara in shock. Kara laughed at her expression and nudged Lenga in the side.

 

“I know, she’s weird about her pizza. She’ll even put anchovies on it if you let her.”

 

“Someone actually does that, I thought that was just a thing in the movies.”

 

“Oh hush you two, you’re both glorified trash compactors with your appetites.” Lena took a piece of pizza and took a large bite with a smug look on her face.

 

“I mean, even trash compactors can have taste buds. Melty cheese, Lena. Melty. Cheese.” Vega was kind of hungry again just thinking about it. So, she really wasn’t about to argue with the trash compactor comment other than that one caveat.

 

“Overrated. Cheese is good in all forms.”

 

Vega flopped beside her. “Fair, but like, melted is better. Fondue is best.”

 

“Chocolate fondue is better,” Lena sassed back.

 

“We weren’t talking about chocolate we were talking about cheese.” She put the remote in Lena’s lap. “Choose the next movie, and don’t make it cheesy.”

 

Kara and Lena both groaned at the pun.

 

“Alex had way too much to do with your upbringing,” Kara said. “Why did you inherit her love of bad puns, why?”

 

“Puns are funs.”

 

“And that saying too, of course,” Lena sighed.

 

“Of course.” Vega snickered and settled back into a comfortable position as Lena started to scroll through the choices.

 

It wasn’t really a surprise when Lena fell asleep halfway through the movie. She had to be exhausted after an emotional day. Vega helps gently remove her from Kara’s side and lap so Kara can pick her up and carry her to the guest bedroom. Vega cleans up everything and then shoots off towards her moms’ place with a quiet “Bye Aunt Kara,” knowing that Kara will hear her and that Lena is in good hands.


	36. Chapter 36

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Does Vega become a superhero like Kara?

In parts, yes and no. It all depends just on how you define superhero.

 

Vega, when she’s older does help out at the DEO whenever there’s something that her _Ieiu_  and Aunt Kara can’t handle together. That, however, is few and far between. It doesn’t preclude Winn from designing her a suit for when she does go out, though. Hers has a mask because she’s not going to pull an Aunt Kara and only have her glasses as a disguise. That’s just asking to be revealed on accident. Plus she knows the mask makes her Mom feel better too.

 

When she moves to Metropolis, she helps Clark out too on occasion. He needs help a bit more than Kara does just because there’s only one of him, but he’s also been at it longer than Kara, so it’s not much more. She likes helping out, but she doesn’t think that the regular double life that both her Aunt and cousin lead would suit her so much. With all the behind the scenes heroes she’s known in her life, her Uncle James, Uncle Winn, Cat, Vasquez, and everyone else, she knows there’s more than one way to be a hero. So while she does have the suit and does fly around sometimes, it’s not her main mode of helping.

 

The kids she helps on the weekends at the local community center with coding think she’s pretty great. The four other causes she donates her time and money to appreciate her and her passion. They’re wide-ranging, Planned Parenthood, a refugee assistance center, an environmental watchdog, and a non-profit focusing on inner city kids’ science education. Sometimes she picks up other struggling but worthy causes and hands them over to Cat because she knows that her help alone isn’t enough. And yet she still helps more. The people her apps help to live an easier life think she’s a blessing, even if they don’t know it’s Vega behind the app. The coworkers she helps out love her. The ones she listens to over lunch as they spill out their problems, hoping for an answer to whatever has got them tied up, they think she’s an angel. And Jessica, the woman she loves above all, well, Vega is her favorite hero and no one can convince her that anyone is better.

 

Vega likes that balance. She likes that most of the help she gives people is as an ordinary person, not as the daughter of a Kryptonian. No one in the world can be a Kryptonian superhero, but everyone in the world can be an ordinary hero. She wants to be that person who inspires others to help, not stare up into the sky and wonder when a hero will come and change everything. Nothing in the world will change if everyone depends on someone else to change for them. But everything could change if people came together. El Mayarah. Stronger together. And while she may not be of the House of El herself, she knows the truth echoes in their motto that spans across species and she will uphold it.

 

Her House’s motto is forever faithful. And she is forever faithful to Earth and the human race, in whatever form she can be, and if that isn’t being a hero, she isn’t sure what is


	37. Chapter 37

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Crap! I forgot to send this in earlier, because it's already vday now, but anyway. The Vega verse and Valentine's day, do Alex and Astra care to celebrate this, how are Vega and Jessica going about this, just... Everything Valentine's day

Alex and Astra really don’t celebrate Valentine’s Day. Astra really doesn’t understand what all the fuss is about. It’s just one of those pieces of human culture that she doesn’t understand. It just seems like an over-commercialized excuse to only be sweet to your significant other once a year.

 

Alex is maybe still a little bitter over all those years she was thought she was straight and wasted her Valentine’s Day either feeling broken because she couldn’t ever feel content in a relationship with a guy and was consequently single know again, or trying to stomach shitty romantic overtures from idiot guys when she wasn’t single. Now that she’s with Astra and secure in her sexuality Valentine’s Day just reminds her of bad memories that she doesn’t want to associate with Astra. She thought about trying to overwrite those memories with a sweet date with Astra, but she doesn’t want to take the risk.

 

So on Valentine’s Day her and Astra’s day is much the same as any other. They come home and Astra cooks dinner. Alex drools over Astra’s cooking and eats a huge portion because DEO agents burn a lot of calories in a day. Then she does the dishes because Astra cooks even though dishes are her least favorite chore before they curl up on the couch and maybe cuddle while they watch a show or read or talk. Their evening routine hasn’t changed much over the years, save the fact that they don’t help Vega with homework anymore. If the cuddling leads to something else, well that isn’t because of the day, it’s more that they can’t keep their hands off each other at the best of times. The most festive they get is the one time Astra leaves hickies in a heart shape on the inside of Alex’s thigh. Alex definitely remembers that Valentine’s Day with fondness.

 

Astra does love the Valentine’s Day chocolate on sale though. That part of the holiday she does understand. Alex doesn’t mind much either, except for the fact that for a couple weeks she can barely open the cabinets without chocolate falling on her. There are worse ways to go than being bludgeoned to death by chocolate, she supposes.

–

Jessica and Vega on the other hand both grew up with Valentine’s Day and have no bad memories. So they go all out. Romantic date, little gifts, sexy lingerie, and honestly, some pretty amazing sex, they do it all. There’s just something about being gay and other, be it alien in Vega’s case or black in Jessica’s, that makes celebrating obviously so much the sweeter.

 

They trade off years for planning. This year it’s Vega’s year to plan and she may have planned an entire Valentine’s Day long weekend for them. May have. Because honestly she loves Metropolis and she grew up in National City, so she’s a city girl through and through, but she’s always enjoyed getting out of town every once in a while. Being able to take down some of the walls on her senses is so freeing. And maybe, just maybe, she’s thinking about how good it will feel to have those walls down with Jessica laying on top of her. The fact that she found a ski lodge doing a romantic getaway weekend package in the middle of the Catskills doesn’t hurt either. She thinks it’s going to be a great weekend.

 

They leave on Friday after work. Vega hasn’t told Jessica where they’re going just to pack for a weekend and to bring some warm things on top of whatever else she was planning to bring. Jessica likes surprises so it doesn’t bother her that she doesn’t know where she’s going. Really, is there any safer place to be than with a person with superhero powers?

 

When they get there, there are a few other couples, mostly the straight white marketing wet dream couples the would look good on a poster. They definitely stick out, but they hardly notice. Jessica is still a California girl at heart and a ski lodge is new and wonderful. Vega is too busy looking at Jessica taking it in. It looks like she made a great choice of venue after all. That first night there’s a romantic dinner which Vega eats all of and then half of Jessica’s because no one really plans for a Kryptonian appetite. Thank god Jessica doesn’t eat a lot and shares her leftovers feely. There may have been some rather disgustingly romantic feeding each other involved too just to top it all off.

 

When they’re back in their room the clothes come off almost immediately. By the time they flop back down on the bed the sun is rising and they’re smiling like idiots, cuddling each other and exchanging a myriad of I love you in words and in light caresses and kisses.

 

One time they actually do venture outside for a few hours. Jessica gets skiing lessons and Vega goes with her even though she can ski well enough through judicious application of floating and flying if she feels a bit unsteady. And maybe she’s there to snicker at Jessica falling on her butt. She isn’t laughing when Jessica pushes her over though. At least not until she’s on the ground looking up at her lover who has the smuggest look on her face and Vega laughs and laughs.

 

Jessica is too sore for anything that night, but Vega pampers her with champagne and strawberries and back rubs and cuddling with the portable heater that begs just naturally is Vega. She recovers enough to wake Vega up the next morning in a very pleasurable way.

 

The rest of the long weekend goes something like that, with copious amounts of alone time scattered with fancy meals and adventures outdoors for a little while. By the time they get back they’re more in love with each other than before and relaxed enough to take on the city and their jobs once more. Vega may have more plans involved for that little lodge in the future now. Maybe they involve a couple of white dresses and some rings, maybe not. All she knows now is that she is happy. So. So happy and so in love.


	38. Chapter 38

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Does Vasquez ever watch tiny!Vega for Alex and Astra? Is she included in the assortment of honorary aunts and uncles?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the next few are ones that were written after I'd already posted the ones in the same time frame. I thought that I'd put these before the last two because they're a better ending to this series so, going back in time here for a second and then returning to future if that makes sense.

Vasquez is one of those adults that literally does not know what to do with a baby. Like at all. Tiny, easily breakable humans that can’t talk? How do you even do anything with them without worrying constantly? She isn’t sure how parents do it. She knows that the only way she’d ever have a kid is adoption so she could go straight past the baby phase into like the pre-school age or maybe older where talking was a thing and they generally couldn’t get injured from looking at them wrong.

 

To say the first few years whenever Vasquez was handed Vega while Alex was doing something she needed both hands for and Astra wasn’t around to take their daughter were the times that Vasquez panicked more than a trained government agent should was an understatement. She literally just stood there stiff as a board with Vega in her arms, trying to remember things about supporting heads and other important baby stuff while smiling down nervously at the baby. It wasn’t the baby’s fault that she was literally a useless human being around babies, so she at least tried to make it pleasant even if she was literally screaming internally the whole time. It was totally beside the point that Vega was a Kryptonian baby and probably wasn’t as prone to injury as most babies. She was a baby. Period. That’s all that Vasquez’s brain cared about.

 

Alex figures out that Vasquez is kind of scared of her kid and may or may not go out of her way to stick Vega in her arms at every opportunity. There’s no better way to learn how to deal with kids than experience. Plus, she knows Susan, and she knows that the woman would never hurt her kid even if she was freaked out a bit. Vasquez figures out Alex’s plan about ten months in once her freak out levels have actually decreased a bit to the point where she can move around while holding Vega and she can think more clearly. It comes to her like a lightning bolt and she stands up straight, to Vega’s delightful giggles at the change in position.

 

“Damn it Danvers!” She calls out, but Alex is too far away to hear.

 

From that point on she avoids Alex at least some of the times she knows she’ll have Vega foisted off on her for a little while. She doesn’t avoid all of them, though, because she is getting better with the kid. And soon enough she’ll be in the old enough to talk and not break category, so she can suck it up for now.

 

When Vega is older Vasquez doesn’t mind when Vega ends up playing in the middle of her station. Hank is usually off doing whatever it was that the Director did, Astra and Alex were off on missions with Kara, and the newbie agents left in charge of Vega for the day have lost her once again. Vega always ends up by Vasquez in those situations. Which why the newbies haven’t realized this yet, Vasquez never knows, but she just shrugs and looks at Vega.

 

“They’ll either figure it out like real government agents would or they’ll run around like chickens with their heads cut off, right Vega?”

 

“Yeah!” Vega says before going back to playing some intricate game involving both Barbies and Hot Wheels that definitely only makes sense to Vega herself.

 

Sometimes she abandons her games on the floor by Vasquez’s feet and climbs up in her lap. She sits and listens as Vasquez explains what she’s doing to he girl. When she’s in the middle of a tense part of the mission and can’t talk to Vega anymore, either the girl sits and watches silently or goes back to playing with her toys. Theirs, for the most part, is a relationship of existing in the same place without the need for words. Vasquez wonders about it because honestly what kid is so quiet, but she knows that Vega is bright and bubbly elsewhere, so she’s really not sure what it is about being around her that makes Vega calm down. Maybe she just gets that Vasquez like the quiet for the most part? Who knows. Stranger things happen in her life happen every day.

 

After Winn starts teaching Vega to code, that, that Vasquez picks up and runs with whenever Vega is with her. She’s mastered six or seven alien coding languages now and knows enough of a dozen more to get by. Winn knows some alien coding too, but this is Vasquez’s job. She’s immersed in it every day that she isn’t running a mission from base. For a teacher in alien code, Vasquez is the best there is.

 

From there as Vega gets older, she starts popping by the DEO just to hang out with Vasquez in silence, working on homework, or helping out with some piece of tech that isn’t cooperating. She’s always learning from Vasquez new things that come to the DEO from missions and recon. It helps her coding for her own projects, really, because aliens have a different way of going about things, sometimes that’s more elegant or makes more sense than how humans have done things. If a patch written in more conventional hasn’t worked out for the millionth time, she just switches to the latest languages she’s learning and slaps something together. She’s surprised by how often it works. Vasquez just smiles at her work and shrugs. Computers don’t make sense at the best of times.

 

Their relationship isn’t like that of some of Alex and Astra’s other friends. Vasquez isn’t an aunt figure, not really. She’s more of the older friend/mentor type of person. It’s what works for the both of them, and that’s what matters.

 

When Vega comes back from Metropolis to visit, she always stops by the fiddle with some alien tech or another for a little bit wit Vasquez. Vasquez just smiles at her and hands her a few more leads and goes back to work.


	39. Chapter 39

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: How do Astra and Alex tell Kara and the rest of the superfam about them going from just co-parenting to dating?

Well, like a lot of things it starts with Kara not being able to knock. More accurately it starts because she just flys in the window like it’s as normal as walking in the front door. Vega’s already in bed and Alex and Astra are on the couch for their normal wind down time, but this time they weren’t so much winding down as winding each other up. It’s near the beginning of their relationship and everything is still new and exciting and most times cuddling leads to a bit more.

 

Unfortunately this time it’s a lot more.

 

Alex is on top of Astra with her shirt thrown to the side kissing the woman below her like she’s every dessert Alex has ever wanted and more. She’s just about to suggest they move into the bedroom when Kara thumps down on the floor behind them. Both her and Astra freeze, knowing that there’s only one person who could fly into their apartment unannounced. And neither of them want Kara to see just what they’re doing. Alex’s hands slip slowly off of Astra’s boobs and she ends the kiss with a seemingly loud smack. Oh god above this is going to be awkward.

 

Alex doesn’t even turn around to say hi. Her shirt is too far away to grab, so she’s just going to stay facing the other wall. “Um, hi Kara.”

 

Kara is silent for a long moment and Alex can just imagine the horrified look on her face, probably around the same time that Alex told her that sometimes animal shelters put animals to sleep because they didn’t have the room. Maybe even worse. She’s not sure considering Kara was staring at her aunt and her sister about to get it on. Alex kind of wished she would either say something or fly away so she and Astra could regroup though.

 

“What are you doing?”

 

Astra peeks around Alex’s body. “Kara, you know exactly what we’re doing. You and your Cat have done it before.”

 

Kara’s eyes widen and she blushes as she stammers out, “A-aunt Astra! You said you wouldn’t say anything!”

 

Alex turns to face Kara at that. She’s trying not to laugh at the image of Astra accidentally walking in on Kara and Cat. That must have been awkward. Though she would have thought that it would have taught Kara a lesson about knocking.

 

“Well, it’s not like we didn’t know that you can Cat were banging so.”

 

“Alex!” Kara shouts. “That isn’t the point right now! I just walked in on you two making out and I’m the one getting teased about having sex! How is that even fair.”

 

“Because I’m the one who’s sitting here half naked and I have to have some way of distracting everyone involved from that fact.”

 

“Oh, I’m not distracted from that fact,” Astra whispers below her.

 

“Ew, oh Rao,” Kara whines. “I’m going to go back to my apartment. You guys are obviously too busy for a movie. Just. Let’s pretend this never happened.”

 

“Can do, sis, can do.”

 

Kara is gone from the apartment in a rush of wind a second later and Alex is left sitting on top of Astra with the mood sufficiently ruined.

 

“Well, that was fun. For people with super powers you guys really don’t know when to use them to avoid situations like this.”

 

Astra shrugged. “We can’t have them on all the time or we would go mad.” She sits up a little bit. “But your lips also drive me mad, so I suppose it isn’t such a terrible thing.”

 

And well, maybe the mood isn’t as ruined as she thought because when Astra kisses her, she’s ready to go.

 

-

 

A few weeks later when they tell the superfam about them, no one is surprised. Alex shakes her head and wonders just how many people figured it out on their own and how many Kara told after being traumatized. She doesn’t ask. She really doesn’t want to know. She’s just glad that she can kiss Astra in front of everyone without worrying. That’s what’s really important, at least to her. Astra doesn’t seem to mind it either.

 

Everyone else? Well, they probably mind when Alex and Astra get carried away. But none of them say anything, because who would say anything to a superpowered alien who can shoot lasers out of her eyes and a trained government agent who almost always has a gun on them?


	40. Chapter 40

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: From AXEe here on AO3 who wondered what Aunt Kara would be like with Vega.

Kara, whether she wants to be or not is that Aunt that somehow always gets into sticky situations 95 percent of the time. Baking with Aunt Kara? Somehow flour ends up everywhere, including three rooms away where neither of them even went. Going to the park? A massive rainstorm that nobody predicted hits. Getting ice cream? Somehow the machine broke and now there’s ice cream everywhere, including on Vega and Kara, but now they have triple the ice cream they paid for in their cups. For the most part, they’re amusing accidents that harm no one that make for a funny story later. And this is only when Vega’s alone with Kara. When they’re both with Cat, too, everything turns out fine. There’s just something about Kara that the universe likes to spring things on, much to Vega’s amusement.

 

The most memorable disaster is when Kara takes her to the Fortress of Solitude when she’s thirteen.. On Krypton thirteen has a significance, it’s the age a young person picks their faction, picks who they will be when the grow up. The choice can be changed, of course, but most rarely do. Vega does not get to pick a faction, and neither did Kara. She left right before her thirteenth birthday. So it feels right to Kara to share this little bit of information and ceremony with Vega. Kalex will lead them through the ceremony, and while it may mean nothing on Earth, it will mean something to them.

 

Or at least that’s the plan. First, when they are on the way to the Fortress, after dark has fallen over National City and no one will see them flying out of the city, they hit the first snag. They’re flying over a rather deserted piece of land when an F-16 fighter jet flies up beside them. Kara eyes the jet, wondering just what in the world is going on. She hears the pilot radioing back to base that the blip spotted on the radar was Supergirl and then hears base radioing back to bring her in. She knows the President won’t have a problem with them flying, she’s met with President Marsden’s replacement several times and found him to be level-headed and a good leader, but she would have to fight up the chain of command for that to happen and the DEO would probably get involved and it would be a large mess.

 

“Vega? How would you feel about breaking mach three?” Kara asks over the wind.

 

Vega just smiles at her. “Sounds like fun Aunt Kara.”

 

“On your mark, get set, go!” And she sees Vega shoot ahead of her. Kara turns to look at the fighter pilot. “Sorry,” she says before she herself shoots forward faster than the pilot could ever hope to fly.

 

She finds out later from Alex after she calls to tell her what happened and that political tailfeathers would need to be smoothed that she had flown over the President at a top secret retreat in the middle of the Sierra Mountains. The radar had caught her and flagged her as a threat, leading to the fighter pilot pulling up beside them. Whoops. At least nothing bad had come from it. No missiles had been fired and best of all they hadn’t been detained.

 

The next thing that happens to them is when they arrive at the Fortress itself. Kara goes to look for the key, explaining that it’s made from neutron star alloy, too heavy for anyone who’s not Kryptonian to lift. Usually it gets partly buried under snow, but easy to find. Except after a minute of digging around, Kara can’t find it.

 

“Um, do you see a golden key anywhere?” Kara asks Vega, looking around now with her x-ray vision.

 

Vega shakes her head. “Nope. Did you check under the doormat?” She laughs at her own wit.

 

Kara just glares. “Haha, very funny. Help me look.”

 

“Why don’t you just call Clark?” Vega asks, kicking at the snow half-heartedly.

 

“Because I don’t want to tell him that I lost the key to his Fortress, do you?”

 

“I’m thirteen, Aunt Kara, no one is going to blame me. I’ve never even been here.”

 

Kara gasps over dramatically. “You’re going to throw your own aunt under the bus like that?”

 

Vega grins. “Maybe a little. Besides, the bus would take more damage than you.”

 

Kara shakes her head but flies up twenty or so feet, looking out on the ice to try and find the key. And then another ten feet, and another, until she finally spots a glint of gold in the distance and flies off towards it. Somehow, it had made its way about half a mile off, though Kara doesn’t know how. Maybe it had slid downhill and then ice drift had carried it off from there. How long had it been since Kal had been up here that he hadn’t noticed? She shakes her head and flies back to the Fortress key in hand.

 

Next, they walk in and the doors close behind them. “Kalex?” Kara calls out. She shivers a bit even though she doesn’t feel the cold. There’s something about the Fortress that always gives her the chills. Aunt Astra can’t even come to the Fortress, too many ghosts, she says. Kara sees what she means, looking at scraps of technology and art and books that Kal has painstakingly assembled.

 

Kalex appears, weaving a little drunkenly and Kara’s eyes widen. What now?

 

“Kalex, are you ok?”

 

“I’m fine, Master Kara. More than fine.”

 

Kara steps forward. “Then why are you weaving like that?”

 

“Ah, that. I was performing routine maintenance on myself and I believe one of the bottles of lubricant was labeled wrong. I was attempting to fix the problem myself, but now that my gears are all out of sorts it was proving rather difficult. Whatever it is, it tingles.”

 

Kara wonders just what in the world could make a robot tingle. Maybe she doesn’t want to know. “Do you need help?”

 

“That would be much appreciated, Master Kara.”

 

So Kara goes and fixes Kalex, finding the right lubricant and cleaning all the gears. She tells Vega to look around while she does so and Vega wanders off in search of interesting things.

 

By the time Kalex is fixed and has the ceremony Kara wants queued up and ready to go, Vega is nowhere to be seen. Or heard. And Kara starts to get a little nervous.

 

“Kalex do you know where she is?” Kara asks.

 

“Let me pull up the logs.” A second passes. “Oh dear. She’s found her way into the room of the three tests.”

 

Kara’s eyes widened. Why in the world had Kal built one of those? Thinking about it, it was probably to make sure he would pass the tests given to all Kryptonians once reaching their majority, But if he built it like the rooms were built on Krypton, then Vega wasn’t getting out of there until she passed the tests. And Kara had no idea if Astra had even taught her about any of the tests. Oh Rao above Alex was never going to let her hear the end of this.

 

She hurries down to the exit to the room, Kalex right behind her. “Has she passed any yet?” Kara asks.

 

“Yes, she’s passed the first two. Now she’s working on the test of truth.”

 

Which was the hardest test, and why it was last. Yikes, Kara had taken an hour on her own to do it years ago after she was already an adult. How long would Vega take? Probably longer. She was going to have to call Alex and tell her they wouldn’t be home for dinner.

 

Fifteen minutes later, after Kara has already worked herself into a frenzy, Vega steps out. “Oh, hey Aunt Kara. Did you know that room locks behind you? Because I didn’t.”

 

Kara blinks at Vega for a second. “Um, you solved all three tests?”

 

Vega nods. “That last one was rough, but the first two weren’t bad.”

 

Kara snorts and then busts out laughing so hard that she cries. Vega just looks at her, a little worried.

 

“Sorry, sorry, I just, it’s ironic that we came here for the ceremony of your thirtheenth year and yet you manage to wander into the room of the three tests instead. Has Aunt Astra told you about them?”

 

Vega shakes her head. “Nah, she’s mentioned them, but said she would explain more after I came back from today and the ceremony.”

 

“The three tests are what you go through upon reaching your majority. You passed them at thirteen.”

 

“Huh, cool.” Vega shrugs.

 

Kara closes her eyes and breaths out. On Krypton it would have been viewed as a miracle of Rao. But Vega doesn’t really know that and in a way it stings. But Kara just laughs again.

 

“Yeah, cool.” Kara nudges Kalex. “So, ceremony of the thirteenth year, Kalex.”

 

“Right Master Kara, coming right up.”

 

Kalex leads them through the ceremony, finally without a hitch, and then they fly back home without much in the way of fanfare, which after the day is a huge relief to Kara. Explaining to Astra, though, what happened at the Fortress goes a little less smoothly.

 

“What do you mean she passed the three tests before the ceremony?!” Astra grips her fork so hard it bends.

 

Alex places a hand on Astra’s shoulder. “It’s Kara, Astra, something was bound to happen.”

 

Astra just pinched the bridge of her nose and breathes in. “Rao above help me, you’re right.”

 

Kara just blushes and pretends to melt into the floor. Why does this stuff always happen to her?


	41. Chapter 41

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: Does Astra age along with Alex? Or does her Kryptonian biology and the sun prevent her from doing so?

She does, but slowly. They calculate it out after a few years that both Astra, Kara and Clark age about one year for every five years that pass on Earth once they hit about twenty-five. Kara and Clark wonder why it starts at twenty-five, why not as soon as their bodies stop growing. Alex goes into some long winded explanation that around twenty-five is peak strength for most individuals, give or take a few years, and that their biology basically is trying to stop the clock and keep them there. But even with the healing powers of the yellow sun, it isn’t enough to stop aging completely. Still, though, aging ten years in a hundred, it’s closer to immortality than humans will ever get.

 

Astra thinks that she is lucky in that Alex has some years to catch up to her anyway. She knows Kara is not that lucky. Her time with Cat will be rougher because of it. How many years before people start mistaking Kara for Cat’s daughter. How many before she’s mistaken as a granddaughter. How many years will it be for Alex and Astra themselves? Astra doesn’t know the answer to those questions and she’s not sure she wants to. Perhaps, though, it would ease the sting of the surprise later. Though is it really a surprise when you expect it to happen? She’s not sure.

 

Alex comes home the night they figure it all out, and sits with Astra on the couch. Vega is in her room doing her homework before dinner. Alex swallows, knowing that there is so much of her daughter’s life she’ll never see. But at least, at least Astra will have someone. And she will see Vega grow up, past the intelligent, curious, little ten year old she is now and into an adult. She will see the important things. And that will have to do.

 

“I’m never leaving you,” Astra says finally.

 

“I didn’t think you were.” Alex had never once thought that. Astra is too ingrained in the Kryptonian ways that say marriage never ends. And even if they aren’t legally married, they both know that they are as married as they could be otherwise.

 

“Good.” Astra looks up at the ceiling and Alex knows she’s looking through the wood and plaster up into the stars. “We will see each other in Rao’s light.” It is not a question to Astra.

 

 Alex hopes that it is true. She stays silent though, because all her life on this Earth she has not believed in a higher power. She does not want to ruin Astra’s faith.

 

Astra looks back down at her. “Rao has taken too much from me to allow you to be taken from me forever. I will not let him even if I have to fight across time and space and against a god himself. I have flown hundreds of light years to reach this planet, I have been stuck in a timeless void, I have waited years for you, we will not be separated for long.”

 

Alex reaches up and cups Astra’s face. Even if there is an afterlife, she knows it will still be a long, long time. Astra was in her late thirties when she landed on Earth. Biologically she’s only in her early forties now. At best she has to age another forty years before she passes on, but probably longer considering her DNA, fifty, sixty, even seventy years she would have to biologically age. That’s anywhere from four hundred to seven hundred years. Of course she could die before then, Alex is well aware considering, but still. That is a very, very long time to wait for Astra. Alex is sure she won’t be aware of it, no matter what happens.

 

She draws Astra to her and kisses her. She doesn’t cry. She can’t cry. Because she is still young and they still have so many years together. The future is a long way away and all she can do is savor the present.

 

“I’m not leaving you either. Ever. I’m not going to decide one day that I’m a burden on you or some angsty shit like that. You love me and I love you. Whatever we go through, we do it because of that. Love is not a burden. Love is something that lifts you up.”

 

Astra pulls Alex into her arms and holds her close. A second later they are floating a foot or so above the couch. “Like this?” Astra asks with a sad and playful smile on her face.

 

“Well, maybe a bit more literally when you love a superpowered alien, but yes I suppose.” She kisses Astra’s forehead. “We made it through raising a superpowered kid, well, most of the way anyway, we’ll make it through this.”

 

Astra nods. “Yes, we will.” But she still holds Alex tight and doesn’t let go for a long, long time after that.


	42. Chapter 42

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: So about Vega and Jessica and that vision of white dresses?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> And now we're back to chronological order.

Vega starts off small, first by literally asking Jessica is she ever thought about marrying anyone as a general concept.

 

“So,” she begins one night when they’re curled up on the couch together, relaxing after work. Jessica’s head is in her lap and she’s scratching at her scalp lightly. It’s something Jessica has always loved.  “Have you ever thought about getting married?”

 

“Yeah.” She laughs. “There were a few in high school that I was going to spend the rest of my life with, forever and ever amen, that sort of thing. Obviously that didn’t work out.”

 

Vega bends down and kisses Jessica gently. “Better for me.”

 

“And for me. High school me did not know how to pick them.” Jessica kisses Vega again and this time the kiss lingers for a little bit. “So, what about you?”

 

The long answer is that she hadn’t, not really, because somewhere along the line her thinking on marriage had more aligned with her Ieiu’s and Kryptonian values than Earth’s. She was going to be a one and done kind of girl, she had felt it even back when she was little. No one but Jessica had ever made her think that it was ever going to be permanent, long lasting, perhaps, but never forever.

 

But she goes with her short answer. “Yes, some. But I wasn’t ever the little girl who imagined her own wedding or anything.” She shrugs.

 

“Oh my god, your Ieiu would have a field day if you got married. Somehow I think she’d manage to get you in Kryptonian robes for the ceremony.”

 

Vega snorts. Yeah, that would be a suggestion her Ieiu would put forward before her mom stopped her. But a little Kryptonian tradition at her wedding wouldn’t be misplaced. Just not the robes, definitely not the robes. If she was going to do this, she wanted the dress.

 

“Maybe she’d put you in the robes instead.” Vega pokes Jessica’s side and Jessica jerks away, slapping Vega’s hands ineffectually.

 

“Nuh uh, no way, I’m showing up to my wedding in a tux, I already decided that a long time ago back when I was fourteen and head over heels with Therese Pullman. It’ll be white and it’ll be beautiful as fuck.”

 

“Therese. What a good lesbian name.”

 

Jessica laughs. “I know right, I made a Carol joke to her one time, but she didn’t get it. I think that’s when everything started to go wrong.”

 

Vega looks down at Jessica lovingly. “Well, if you looked at me seductively across a department store, I’d fall in love with you.”

 

“Same to you, babe.” She sits up. “I think this calls for us to watch Carol, don’t you think?”

 

“Oh totally.” Vega is up and across the living room in a second, grabbing the remote and turning on the TV before going to the kitchen to grab popcorn. “You have the best ideas.”

 

“Of course I do.” Jessica smiles and nods, her hair bouncing along with her amusingly.

 

Vega just smiles and kisses her once more before starting the movie.

 

–

 

About a year and a half after Vega first has the thought at the winter lodge of marrying Jessica, she finds the ring. She isn’t even looking. She’s just walking by a storefront and walked by it before doing a double take and walking back. It’s a medium sized piece of opal surrounded by tiny diamonds in a black titanium setting. If it doesn’t scream Jessica, she doesn’t know what does. She goes in and buys it without a second thought. She has a savings account for a reason.

 

The trick about how to ask Jessica, well that’s a little harder. She thinks about it for days on end, the ring in the bottom dresser drawer that they only put their junky clothes they hardly ever wear in, buried under sweatpants that should have been thrown out ages ago. She ends up going to her Ieiu for advice, both because she wants a Kryptonian perspective on things and because her Mom will probably call Aunt Kara first thing and Aunt Kara will blab to half the city, and she doesn’t want that, not yet. Afterwards, Aunt Kara can tell anyone she wants.

 

Her Ieiu meets her in the sky above National City after she sends her a message. She reaches out for Vega’s hand and squeezes it.

 

“What’s wrong, Inah,” Astra asks.

 

“Nothing’s wrong. Everything’s great. If anything, that’s the problem, if that makes sense?”

 

“No, it doesn’t, but explain it to me.”

 

Vega sighs and the force of it actually causes her to sink a few inches in the air. “I bought a ring, for Jessica.”

 

And Astra’s been on the planet long enough to know what that means. She also knows her daughter well enough to know the problem right off. “You are unsure how to ask her.”

 

Vega nods. “How did they do it on Krypton?”

 

“There was no romance in it. The heads of your houses came together and announced your union. That was all.” Astra looks over at her, eyes silver in the moonlight. Vega looks even more like her mother now biologically they are closer in age thanks to Vega aging at a normal rate for the first twenty-five years of her life, especially in the dim light of the moon. “But if you want my advice, darling one, take her flying. She loves it and no one else on this Earth will have been asked for their hand in marriage that way.”

 

Vega blinks. Oh my god, she can’t believe she had never thought of that herself. She’s a complete idiot. She darts forward and hugs her Ieiu.

 

“Thank you Ieiu. I gotta go. I have to plan things. Oh my god. I’m actually going to ask her to marry me.” She shoots off and does for a few loop-de-loops before returning to her mother’s side.

 

“Go, darling one, plan. Just let us know how it goes.” She pulls Vega into a hug and Vega hugs back hard and long. Some days she doesn’t know how she got so lucky to have the parents she does.

 

“Ok Ieiu. I love you!” And then she flies away into the night. Some windows might get broken in the ensuing sound barrier breakage. She’s jsut too excited.

 

–

 

Another month of planning and everything comes together. She plans a picnic under the stars complete with fairy lights stringing across the roof of their apartment complex and music and food from Jessica’s favorite restaurant. All of the lead up goes perfectly. It’s her turn to plan a date so Jessica just grins at the extra effort and thinks nothing of it, which is what Vega wanted. She wants everything to be a surprise.

 

So when she offers her hands to Jessica with a, “Wanna go for a spin?” Jessica accepts without hesitation.

 

She takes them above the city, far enough that all they can hear is the wind and Metropolis is just a gathering of sparkling lights. It’s beautiful, but Vega only has eyes for the woman in front of her. Jessica, though is looking around with a huge smile on her face.

 

“God, I feel like a god up this high.” Jessica laughs at her own thought, hugging Vega closer.

 

“I think you are a goddess.” She shifts her grip on Jessica easily, freeing up one hand to dig into her pocket. “I have since I laid eyes on you that first time years ago. Lucky me that you got up the balls to ask me out on a date because I’m not sure I ever would have. “

 

“I think you would have managed it. But like a year later after sputtering around me a few times and not quite getting the words out.”

 

Vega laughs and nods. “Yeah, probably, because you and I work together. We always have, even when we’re fighting, and definitely when we aren’t. There’s just something about us. And I think it’s time I got even with you on the question asking part of things.” She pulls the box from her pocket and opens it in the little space between them. “I’m a one and done kind of gal, and I didn’t even think about asking this until you, so Jessica, do you want to do me the honor of marrying me?”

 

Jessica’s answer is a kiss so hard it almost knocks the ring from Vega’s grip. Good thing she’s Kryptonian and has the reflexes to match. When they pull apart, Jessica takes the box, slips the ring out and onto her left hand.

 

“Definitely, Supergal, I’ll marry you. I’ll marry you a hundred times.”

 

Vega laughs. “I’m pretty sure that’s actually illegal, in both of my cultures, but I’ll check the Kryptonian rulebooks just to be sure.”

 

Jessica rolls her eyes but kisses Vega again and again and again until Vega flies them back home.

 

–

 

When Aunt Kara finds out two days later, Vega hears the scream from the other coast. Family. She shakes her head and thinks how Jessica will officially be family soon. God, isn’t that going to be crazy.

 

She wouldn’t have it any other way.


	43. Chapter 43

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Prompt: How does Astra handle Alex's death?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So the prompts started to slow down and unless someone sends anymore in this is where the series is going to end. I hope y'all liked it because it's been near and dear to me this last month and a half.

When Alex goes, she’s well into her nineties. Death didn’t dar take her until she was ready, and now she’s good and ready. She’s made her peace with the world, and now she’s old and creaking and she’s done everything she wanted to do in life and more.

 

Astra is home, Kara is there with her, both making dinner, trying yet again to recreate a Kryptonian dish with Earth ingredients. They say they almost have it down. The both of them had grown closer than ever after Cat had died some years before.

 

Alex is in the chair in the living room where she spends most of her time. She’s still pretty mobile for someone over ninety, but she’s still older than dirt, movement doesn’t happen too often or with any ease. But her chair is central to everything and so she’s happy enough.

 

Vega flies in the window just as the food is ready to go on the table. She waves and her mothers and aunt and smiles. Just in time for food, as always. She did always have good timing when it came to food.

 

Alex looks over at her family and smiles. She never really believed that old people could feel when it was to go, but she feels it now. One last meal with her family and then she’ll be gone. She’s content with this end. It’s what everyone wants, a quiet end in their sleep. It was a damn sight more than she thought she would get after all the years at the DEO.

 

She pulls herself up slowly from her chair when Astra starts setting the table. Astra smiles at her, full of love from all the years they’ve spent together. Alex’s heart still beats hard seeing that smile. Vega comes with the food a second later and rolls her eyes at their lovestruck expressions, but a secret smile on her face when she turns away from them. Then Kara is there, trying not to help Alex into her chair. She knows better, but she still worries. It’s tables turned from when they were young. Alex doesn’t mind too much. It’s only fair she supposes.

 

And as she looks at them all, she thinks what a wonderful life she’s had. She looks at Vega and Astra and Kara and sees the women who fell from the starts like wishes granted. They gave her love and family that she thought she was missing, with enough love to see that she hadn’t been missing anything at all, she just wasn’t looking in the right places. Who could really say such things about their lives?

 

“I love you all,” Alex says in that papery old woman voice that she still doesn’t think of as her own. “I’m so thankful I’ve had you all in my life.”

 

Astra looks at her, worry behind the hand that reaches out and squeezes Alex’s. Alex looks back at her and lets Astra see the truth. After years of being a solider, then a prisoner, then finally at the DEO, Astra knows what a person looks like just before they pass. Alex sees her realize, her expression falters for just a second before her eyes clear again and she nods. She understands, as she always had and Alex is thankful.

 

Kara and Vega just smile. They don’t see the meaning behind it. She supposes it will be clear to them soon enough, but for now Alex is happy that they are content.

 

“Love you too, Mom,” Vega says.

 

Kara is quick to echo her. “Yeah, Alex, love you too.”

 

Alex just smiles back at the both of them and settles in to eat.

 

–

 

Later, when Alex and Astra are alone once more, she turns to Astra.

 

“Hold me?” she asks.

 

“Anything you want.” There are tears in Astra’s eyes now, but they don’t fall. “If you are sure, I’ll deliver you to Rao’s light myself.”

 

“I’m sure, my love, I’m sure.” She walks a few steps to Astra and cups her cheek gently. If she could, she would stay, but life didn’t work like that.

 

Astra closes her eyes and cups Alex’s hand. “I love you, Brave One, so much.”

 

“I know, but I have to go.”

 

Green-silver eyes open and catch Alex’s. “I know. I’ve always known. And here you are, as when we met, facing death without a blink. How things come around.”

 

Alex smiles again, her own eyes watery now. “They do sometimes. This time. This life was what it was because of you. I have no regrets because of you. That’s why there’s no fear.”

 

Astra scoops Alex up then and takes her to their room. She lays them down and hugs Alex tight. “When Rao lets me, I’ll join you.”

 

“I’ll wait for you. But don’t hurry. Vega and Kara need you.”

 

“I won’t, but I’ll still long for that day.”

 

Alex squeezes Astra’s hands to comfort her. She’s already tired. She always is these days. Side effect of getting old, she guesses. She slips off to sleep, Astra’s arms around her.

 

“Goodbye, Brave One.”

 

–

 

Alex wakes up in a world that’s bright and clean. There’s a man in front of her, smiling. To her he looks like a kindly grandpa, but she can’t quite pin down his actual features other than that.

 

“Where am I? Who are you?” She sounds like herself again, not old, but like she did when Astra first landed. She looks down at her hands. She is young again. Oh wow. She smiles and pinches her hand just to make sure it’s real and it is, she feels the pain.

 

“It has many names, and so do I, many worlds, many universes, many languages. But God and Rao are the ones most familiar to you.”

 

Alex’s eyes widen. “No? Really? You aren’t shitting me?” And it dawns on her that she just swore in front of God. Whoops.

 

“No, I am not shitting you.” He chuckles. “You would be surprised how often I get asked that.”

 

Alex can’t quite believe what’s going on. “I really get to go to heaven?”

 

He nods. “All are accepted here. It has always been so. Words get distorted easily when passed from person to person. Much like that game children play, telephone, I believe it’s called.”

 

She pinches herself again just to make sure it’s all real. She didn’t believe, not really, she vaguely hoped. And now she’s here. And she feels pain, and everything feels solid and real. She feels solid and real.

 

“So my mom and Dad and everyone else?”

 

“All are here.” He waves and a door appears, mundane and unassuming. Alex enjoys that, that it isn’t showy, just functional. “They’re waiting for you.”

 

She steps forward, drawn by the prospect of seeing loved ones again for the first time in years. But she pauses. “Astra? Vega? Kara?”

 

“They will come in their time. They will feel the time more than you will, but all will be well in the end.”

 

Alex nods. “Thank you.”

 

God smiles at her, bright and beaming and even Kara’s smiles don’t come close to this. “After everything, Alexandra, I should thank you. Not everyone helps so many people in a lifetime.”

 

She blinks stupidly for a second. God just thanked her. She ever in an eon would have thought that would happen. “Uh, you’re welcome?” because what else is there to say?

 

God just smiles again and motions her on.

 

She goes, and on the toher side she finds the family that had gone first. Eliza, Jeremiah, Cat, James, Maggie, Lucy, Winn, Susan, her aunts and uncles, her grandparents and more. Tears spring to her eyes. Oh, she had missed them all so much.

 

She rushes forward and hugs them all, and slowly, one by one, they all introduce her to the world she’s now in. It’s much like Earth, but some of the little imperfections are fixed and all of the major ones. It’s a version of heaven Alex can get behind, though she would have liked the wings from some of the other versions, just to know what it was like to fly. But without wings, she finds her home and finds happiness again.

 

–

 

One day she feels a feeling, it tugs her to the door she came in. She’s felt it a few times for Lena and Carter and Jessica, but this is stronger, so much stronger. She wonders why. Who could be coming through? It hadn’t been long since she herself had come. It couldn’t be Astra or Kara or Vega unless something had gone wrong. But then again, God had said that she would feel the time less than her Kryptonians would. Maybe it has been that long.

 

She goes to the door and she’s the first one there. Others come, Alex smiles at the Superfam, together again, though they’re never apart for long even in this world. But there are others, too, Kryptonians, she’d know them anywhere in their robes. Here they all speak one language, but if she listens hard enough she can hear the long Kryptonian vowels pulling at their speech.

 

Here heart beats hard. Kryptonians mean Astra or Kara, but who? She looks over the crowd and finds Alura. She hasn’t sought the other woman out in this world, but she had thought about it, if only to see Astra’s face in real life once more. She looks to Alura’s side and doesn’t see Zor-El. No Zor-El means Astra. She almost cries because she’s so happy. She hadn’t realized how much she missed Astra until that moment.

 

When the door opens and Astra steps through, Alex does cry. And then she’s running and throwing herself forward into Astra’s arms and hugs her tight.

 

“You’re here.” Alex breathes her in and she smells just the same.

 

“You waited.” Astra grips back hard.

 

“Of course I did. How could I not wait for you?” She pulls back just enough to look into Astra’s eyes. They have a little moment, reconnecting after years and years, and god above, is it life affirming.

 

And then they are surrounded by family, hugging and greeting and welcoming. It’s a long while before Alex takes Astra back to her apartment, almost the same as the one they lived in for years, but just different enough to not make her homesick.

 

Astra sinks down on the couch after they walk in the door. “I’m here.” She still can’t believe it even after half a day.

 

“You are.” Alex sits beside her and turns the TV on with a thought. What they need after a day like this is just to relax. She cuddles up to Astra, loving that she gets to do this once more. “And you’re going to love the Netflix selection here.”

 

They have each other again, and soon enough they’ll have Kara and Vega too.  The women who fell from the stars are now among them again. Everything is as it should be.


End file.
